


Reflection

by Bragi151



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cameos by Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Characters, Cap-Iron Man Big Bang 2014, Getting Together, Initial Fluff, M/M, Potentially Dubious Consent (See Notes for Specifics), Romance, Team Bonding, bacon pancakes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-24
Updated: 2014-11-24
Packaged: 2018-02-26 22:01:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 73,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2667950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bragi151/pseuds/Bragi151
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now that Baron von Struker is defeated and Loki's staff is destroyed, things seem to be going well for Steve, especially when he tries to more actively woo Tony Stark. But things are never as they seem, and a new slippery enemy stealing Tony's technology will put Steve's new relationship, to say nothing of the rest of the world, directly in harms way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reflection

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Ellid for the wonderful artwork :D You can find her art on her tumblr here: http://ellidfics.tumblr.com/post/103474447555/cap-ironman-big-bang-art  
> And more than just the artwork, thanks to Ellid for encouraging me and get to actually posting this :D

 

 

Steve was exhausted. It had been months since Tony had rounded the gang back up, sending a car for Steve and Sam after the two of them had left the cemetery, Dr. Banner had already been in residence at the tower, Natasha had been escorted to the tower after her confrontation with the government by a veritable army of Tony’s lawyers, Clint had been extracted from an op gone sour by a couple of Stark Industries employees and escorted to the nearest air field, a private Stark Industries jet already waiting, while Thor had followed Jane Foster and Dr. Selvig, who had both been offered a premier job in the Stark Industries Research and Development Department. Darcy and Ian had been offered internships in Jane Foster’s and Dr. Selvig’s laboratories, with freedom to change to any department they wished that might better suit their degrees. Neither had taken the option, of course.

Tony had even managed to corral Bucky in the time it took him to convince Steve to stay at the tower while Steve searched for his amnesiac friend. Tony had quarantined Bucky off with Steve’s permission, getting some of the members of his medical Research Team to look the other soldier over, as well as ensuring that Sam, as a counselor, had free access to the amnesiac, along with a team from the Maria Stark foundation. Tony had quickly gathered the Avengers together for one very important purpose: Hydra.

Steve tried to feel guilty for what he had done, but he couldn’t. While he did regret the chaos caused by Hydra’s now open actions, he did not at all regret the fact that he had exposed them for the world to see. What Steve hadn’t expected, though, was that Tony would be helping him pick up the pieces. Tony’s dedication had surprised Steve. Steve had certainly thought differently of the inventor after the events at the Battle of New York, but Tony’s unflinching resolve and unwavering will were not traits that Steve would have associated with someone reported to be a philanderer and a hedonist.

Steve had never been happier to be wrong.

Except for the guilt that had plagued Steve after Tony’s work against Hydra had cost him his relationship with Pepper. The redheaded CEO had been very understanding about the work that was necessary to protect the world from threats like Hydra, but she had only just gotten Tony away from the Iron Man suits. Apparently, Steve dumping Tony right back into the thick of things had been the straw that had broken the proverbial camel’s back. Steve felt somewhat vindicated that Pepper and Tony had elected to remain friends and that Tony had not blamed Steve for the destruction of his romantic relationship with Pepper.

Not that Pepper seemed inclined to agree with Tony.

Steve had never found a Dame that scary before, not even Natasha.

But this, alone, would not have been enough to exhaust Steve, as daunting as it all looked on the surface. What had Steve pulling his hair out was Hydra. Hydra had been more persistent than a weed, more unkillable than a cockroach, and far more annoying than unrequited romantic feelings for a teammate who had, after all of this, turned out not to be quite as bad as Steve expected. Not that Steve had experience with those. None at all, really.

It certainly had nothing to do with the fuzzy feeling Steve got in his chest after Tony made him laugh for the first time since waking up, during the Battle of New York. It certainly wasn’t remotely related to the equally constricting feeling Steve got in his chest when he saw another man about to die on his watch, flying a nuke into space. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that Tony had done everything within his power to help _Steve_ , not Captain America, because Tony made it obvious that Captain America held no good memories for him. It didn’t have anything to do with the fact that Bucky was slowly regaining his memories after Tony rebuilt a machine of torture into something that might actually do some good.

It had nothing to do with any of that.

It didn’t.

And these purely hypothetical unrequited feelings certainly had certainly not added to the strain of combatting Hydra for the past three months. Steve Grant Rogers, super soldier and patriot, was simply thoroughly tired. Mostly because they were finally done. Tony had managed to corner Baron von Struker’s money trail. They had found Struker’s base. They had stormed the castle. And now they were done. Steve had dealt with von Struker. The Hulk had pounded the castle to rubble, Thor had electrocuted fleeing Hydra agents, Natasha and Clint had ensured that the captured Hydra agents revealed the rest of their scattered and disparate resources, and Tony had made very sure that those resources were forevermore inaccessible right before he turned his repulsor on Loki’s staff and shattered the incandescent blue stone that so emulated the Tesseract.

However, that had led Tony to being blasted backwards by the resultant explosion which had knocked him out for over an hour. Thankfully, no one else had been effected, but that didn’t stop Steve from giving Tony a thorough dressing down, which Tony took remarkably well, for Tony, that is. Steve supposed that he should at least be thankful that Tony actually listened to his lectures. Natasha had tried once, and had quickly learned that Tony was not quite as put off by the super spy as the rest of them had thought, however much he might pretend otherwise, when the appliances in the kitchen began lecturing her on their proper use. When she had said that she would cut them, they had replied that they would cut her food supply, and she had quietly endured the rest of their lecture.

So Steve was finally allowing himself to be tired, the same way he was currently dragging a reluctant Tony out of the workshop deep beneath the bowels of Avengers Tower. Tony was very obviously sleep deprived, but was still running a thousand miles a minute as he completed various plans for Stark International as well as his own armor and the Avengers. Tony babbled incoherently about several new products he wanted to finish sketching out, although sketching for Tony meant tinker with via three dimensional holographic model, so that they could be pushed to the public as soon as possible. Tony was always trying to ensure his company got the best possible goods out to the public as soon as possible, without flaws and without restrictions and as affordable as Tony could possibly make it. It was another reason Steve greatly admired his _friend_.

“Tony,” Steve said, interrupting another stream of sleepy technobabble, “I’m taking you to your bed and you’re going to _sleep_ for the first time in almost three days. Hydra is gone. There’s nothing so important that you can’t catch some rest. It’s okay to sleep.”

Tony squinted up at Steve, his brow furrowing in a way that Steve could not help but define as cute, “That’s empirically untrue. There are several armor upgrades, and Hydra remnants, and the phone, and your spandex, and pants…I need more pants…Bruce always ruins the pants…tight pants…spangles…nano-carbide fiber…” Tony’s mumbling was getting more incoherent as time went on, and the genius seemed to be actively drifting to sleep while clinging to Steve. This did not cause a small swarm of warm butterflies to flutter just below his ribs. It did not.

Steve ignored non-existent and totally inappropriate impulses and adjusted Tony with his arm as he punched in the security code to get to their floor, followed by the retina scan that would allow him access to the floor in addition to the code. Tony was very instant on the security in the tower. When Tony had granted them all access, Pepper and Rhodey had informed Steve, and the rest of the Avengers sans Tony, what a big leap this was for the genius. They had also informed the rest of the team that they did not care that the Avengers were comprised of veterans, gods, superspies, super soldiers enhanced by serums or mechanical arms, and a man with breathtaking anger management issues, and that, if they betrayed Tony’s trust, they would be looking at a very miserable life. Steve didn’t feel guilty for being intimidated by that particular shovel speech. It didn’t look like any of their number had been able to keep themselves from being at least somewhat scared by the pair of Tony’s friends.

Steve had wondered at the time if they were more worried than usual because Tony had redesigned the penthouse into a common Avenger space and turned some of the renovated floors into housing for the Avengers. Steve and Tony actually shared a floor, as did Clint and Natasha. Thor got his own floor, though he technically shared it with Jane. Bruce and the Hulk also both got one floor, Tony arguing that each member of the Avengers deserved their own suite, while Sam and Bucky had been relegated to the last floor for housing, which was comprised of several smaller studio apartments. Smaller being a relative term, as each studio apartment was larger than Steve’s old apartment in D.C.

And Steve did not at all mind that his suite was located quite literally across the hall from Tony’s, especially as it made forcing the reclusive genius to eat and spar easy. Steve noticed that Tony kept in shape, though he did so with some exercise equipment placed in his workshop more often than the Avengers gym or the company gym in the tower, but Steve wanted more hands on training with Tony, to make sure the inventor was capable of handling himself outside the suit, even if Tony had proven so during the Mandarin incident. Steve’s insistence that Tony spar with him regularly had nothing to do at all regarding the way Tony’s sweats hugged his very shapely behind. None at all.

Steve was jolted out of not staring at Tony’s behind by the elevator dinging, opening up to the floor directly beneath the pent house, and which housed Steve and Tony’s suites. The door to Tony’s suite unlocked and swung open on its own as Steve approached, now carrying Tony bridal style. Steve elected to ignore the way Tony was curled up into his chest, just as he ignored the obvious trust Tony had in him. As far as Steve knew, the last person to try and sneak into Tony’s suite had been met with the business end of Jarvis’s nonlethal repulsors, which had been installed all over the building for defensive purposes.

Steve quickly made his way to Tony’s bedroom, which he knew now by rote, as this was far from the first time that Steve had dragged a sleep deprived Tony away from the workshop. Once he got to the foot of Tony’s opulent and lavish bed, however, Steve encountered his usual set of problems. Primarily: Tony Stark was clingy. Very clingy. If it were to come down to a bet between an octopus and Tony, Steve would bet on Tony, every time.

Currently, Tony’s arms were wrapped around Steve’s waist, and the genius was refusing to let go, despite Steve’s attempts to pry the inventor off of him. Steve knew that, barring super strength, he would have no way of actually extracting himself from Tony, and was grateful that he was the one who was bringing Tony to bed. This was not at all due to the fact that, should one of the other Avengers have attempted to drag Tony to bed, they would be on the receiving end of Tony’s very inappropriate, if unintentional, affection. Tony was just lucky that Steve did not at all mind the affection.

“If I may suggest, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS’s smooth voice was modulated low enough that Steve would only just be able to hear him, to say nothing of Tony, who was dead to the world, “I believe it would be prudent of you, at this juncture, to attempt to disentangle yourself from Sir, unless, of course, you are amenable to spending the night in Sir’s bed.” The sarcasm in the last part of the sentence was unmistakable, and Steve was struck, again, by just how advanced JARVIS really was. There was also little to no doubt in Steve’s mind as to who was responsible for the artificial intelligence’s sass.

Steve just nodded, not wanting to wake Tony, and began to add extra strength in his attempt to pry Tony off of him. He hadn’t exactly noticed when he’d stopped attempting to peel Tony off of him, but he supposed he should be glad that JARVIS had reminded him of his need to. Because Steve needed to. Because sleeping in Tony’s bed would be inappropriate.

Tony mumbled some more technobabble in his sleep, his fingers twitching as he grasped at dream tools as he worked on dream projects. Steve found himself brushing back Tony’s bangs before he could help himself. Steve did, however, manage to stop himself before he pressed his lips to Tony’s temple. Steve found his lips hovering scant inches from Tony’s head as the inventor mumbled and twisted fitfully in his sleep.

“Steve,” Tony muttered, causing Steve to jump back. Steve all but ran from Tony’s room, not bothering to close the door behind him, knowing that JARVIS would take care of it. Steve quickly pressed his hands to his own door knob, waiting for the fraction of a second it took for the door to register his hand print and DNA before unlocking and allowing him in.

Steve almost slammed his door behind him as he rushed through, but contained himself. He leaned back against the door frame, slowly sinking downward until he at last sat on the wooden floor of his living room. Here, in relative privacy and seclusion, where there was no Tony to act as a temptation, Steve allowed himself the guilty pleasure of thinking of what Tony’s mumbling his name could mean.

Here, Steve allowed his feelings to run amok, allowed unrequited emotions their due, before he was forced to step out the door and compartmentalize for the sake of his team. It wasn’t that Steve was a stranger to finding men attractive. Good Christian boy or no, Steve was an artist, and he had always appreciated the forms of both men and women, or, rather, the human form for the beauty that it was. And Tony was nothing if not beautiful. Though, should Tony hear him say that, Steve had no doubt that he would be receiving a few choice words from the inventor.

But Steve had no doubt that Tony was gorgeous. That being said, Tony’s physical appeal wasn’t what drew Steve to Tony. Tony’s personality drew out some of the most latent and raw emotion Steve had allowed himself to feel for a long time, since before Bucky’s death. He was glad that Bucky was alive and healthy and that he had an old friend to explore this new time with, but he had never seen Bucky that way. Steve shivered at the very thought, pushing himself up to his feet. Though Steve freely admitted that Bucky was attractive, metal arm or no, the idea of _knowing_ Bucky in a biblical sense felt wrong and incestuous.

It was the way Steve should feel about any intimate contact with a teammate. It was the way he always had, it was the way he did, and it was the way he should; but for Tony. Tony. Steve had a feeling it started that moment when the genius had proved Steve wrong, the moment he had disproved the words on the hellicarrier that Steve had yet to apologize for. Tony had apologized for his sharp words, once, on a drunken bender. It was the same bender where Tony had confessed to Steve what it was like living under a changed Howard Stark, and though Steve hadn’t wanted to admit that his friend of old had changed so much that Howard had left his son emotionally destitute, Steve could recognize the signs of an abused child when he saw one.

Steve regretted the part he had played in that, even unwillingly and unwittingly, and he hopped that he could fix that now by being a _friend_ to Tony. It wasn’t that he thought Tony was uninterested in men, the internet was rife with examples of how well traveled and open minded Tony was when it came to intimacy. Tony’s track record on love, however, was disappointingly sparse. All Steve really had to go off of was Pepper, and not even that had worked out, courtesy of Steve’s unfortunate intervention. Steve was left to fumble blind, looking for avenues into the inventor’s heart.

So, Steve decided that they should start somewhere else. Friends, teammates, and companions. That was what was right, and moral, and totally appropriate, even though Steve couldn’t help but yearn for something more. They still argued like cats and dogs when it came to big overarching decisions about what was necessary and what was toeing the line. And though Steve could always see that Tony never failed to do what he thought was right, Steve knew Tony needed someone to protect him from himself. In all actuality, Steve admired Tony’s willingness to put himself on the line for his friends, and even for strangers. It was Tony’s assumption that he should also play the monster, however, that had Steve worried.

Steve wondered at it, as he went through his nighttime routine. It had only really happened once, but it had left a keen impression on Steve and on the rest of the Avengers, or so Steve assumed. It was the only time Steve had seen Tony earn his now hated nickname, The Merchant of Death. A group of Hydra agents had holed up in a missile silo, thankfully not nuclear, but which did contain some highly volatile research. To make things even more complicated, the Hydra operatives were using several scientists who were not allegedly still part of Hydra as hostages. The agents had already started the countdown on the missile launch, and cut off the launch sequence from outside sources, preventing either JARVIS or Tony from shutting down the launch remotely. They had been given the option of either securing the Hydra agents and rescuing the potential hostages, or putting the abort codes in manually to stop the launch.

Tony had taken option three.

While the Hydra operatives were admonishing the Avengers as weak and unwilling to do what was necessary, Tony overloaded the base’s generator and electrical system. The explosion had triggered several chain reactions that had eventually reached the missile, blowing up a large portion of the base, but saving the city that the operatives had been targeting and preventing Hydra from absconding with the research. Several of the Hydra agents had died, but most of them were simply severely burned and unconscious. The scientists, in addition to being mostly unharmed, turned out to be actual hostages, though they were still being kept under observation for good measure. And though Tony hadn’t apologized for his actions, Steve could see that the decision weighed heavy on him. Even as Steve admonished Tony for the choice, he could see how haunted Tony’s eyes were, how much pain it had caused him.

Tony had agreed with him.

“It wasn’t a good decision. It wasn’t a moral decision,” Tony had said, after they had gotten back to Avengers tower and had started to head for their separate quarters. Tony had pulled him aside after the rest of the Avengers had retreated. “But,” Tony continued before Steve could speak, “it was the best one.”

Tony had left the room after that, not speaking on the matter further. And though Steve disagreed with the decision, had made it plain that he would have preferred to simply stop the missile and let the agents run away, not caring if they would have gained access to the secure research in the base that had survived the explosion, he knew that no one bore more guilt about the decision than Tony did. It had showed them just how far Tony was willing to go in order to do the right thing. All of them had killed before, though none of them truly enjoyed it. But, by far, it seemed that Tony was the most willing to take on himself what others were unwilling, or incapable, of bearing.

That, more than anything, was what Steve loved about Tony. The pure, unadulterated selflessness called to something in Steve. Even when Tony smeared himself in mud and blood and hate, he moved forward. He was willing to do those things not because he didn’t care, but because he did. And it made Steve hurt just as much as it made Steve love him.

But, Steve hoped, that would be less necessary. Things should be easier, as Hydra was gone, Steve thought as he settled down into his bed, perfect and Spartan and just the way that Steve liked it. Comforted in the knowledge that he could go at his own pace, could go after Tony in his own way, without rushing or forcing his feelings or Tony’s, Steve drifted off to sleep and dreamt of warm brown eyes and hair mussed by grease and oil.

* * *

“Ugh,” Tony grunted into the table as Steve looked over his shoulder at him from the stove. Tony was sitting on the island, his face buried in his arms, and though Steve knew for a fact that the inventor had gotten his requisite amount of sleep that night, courtesy of JARVIS, Tony did not at all look like he was feeling better. “I hate board meetings. Remind me why I go to them again?”

“Because you are a responsible human being who likes to act like you’re a child, and you’ve run this company since you were twenty one, nearly a decade of which went by before you found Pepper and an excuse to be lazy.” Steve replied, placing chocolate chip pancakes in front of Tony. The brunet reached out without raising his head, groping for the fork and the knife and dragging the plate towards him. They had done this before, and it was a comfortable dance between the two of them, especially now that any immediate threats had been taken care of and there were no lingering threats to be seen on the horizon.

Steve hoped that it would give him the opportunity for more than just camaraderie with Tony.

“I forgive you for your shameless slander only because your pancakes are mmf.” Tony said, making noises that should not have affected Steve as obviously or as strongly as they did. And the look on Tony’s face as his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he chewed, tilting his head up to expose his supple neck. Steve’s fingers twitched, whether for material to draw the scene in front of him, immortalize and preserve it, or to touch that neck, caress it with his fingers before trailing them with kisses, he didn’t quite know.

Steve cleared his throat, “So calling you a responsible adult is slander, now?”

Tony snorted after swallowing the rest of the pancake, reaching over for his still steaming mug of coffee, “Of course it is! How hard do you think it is to get all of these people to underestimate me and write me off? It doesn’t come easy, you know. I have to put a lot of work into it. And it doesn’t help when stupidly sexy super soldiers contradict me in public.” Tony muttered the last of it under his breath, obviously not intending for Steve to catch it.

Steve just smiled and rolled his eyes. Where the comment might have made Steve blush once, he was now more than used to Tony’s rather acerbic wit and flirtation. It was Tony, after all. Steve had seen him flirt with the Hulk after a particularly stressful battle and the Hulk looked as if he was beginning to lose control. The Hulk’s laughter at Tony’s advances, however, had calmed him enough to bring Banner back out to the fore.

Tony glanced at his watch and sighed, stuffing as much of the rest of the pancakes into his mouth as he could, washing the whole thing down with the rest of his mug, and darting towards the elevator. “Thanks for the breakfast, sweetheart!”

This time, Steve did end up blushing a little bit, but was still unable to stop laughter from bubbling up out of the warm pit that had pooled in his chest at Tony’s pet name, “Be a good boy, honey!” Steve called back dryly. Tony just waved and winked from the elevator, which abruptly closed.

Steve sighed, proceeding to cook more pancakes as the aftereffects of his banter with Tony died away. It wouldn’t be long before the rest of the Avengers joined him in the kitchen and they began to hash out the morning intelligence reports. They had access to everything from Phil’s fledgling reconstruction of S.H.I.E.L.D. (though the circumstances of Phil’s rebirth had been something that each Avenger had met with joy, the exact method behind it had left all of them a bit off put, to say nothing of the fact that Phil hadn’t contacted any of them), to Tony’s widely spread info net, consisting of both JARVIS’s impressive computative abilities as well as reports being filed by the “Intelligence Department” that had grown in Stark Industries under the tender loving care of Maria Hill.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the Avengers to drag themselves from sleep and crowd into the penthouse, Maria coming up the elevator a few minutes later to join them for the morning debrief, “So how are things going with your new job in SI?” Steve started off, after Maria had sat down, a plate of pancakes set in front of her.

Maria snorted before slicing up a piece, “It’s nice that legal is protecting me from the legion of intelligence networks that want to disappear me, but not many of the other branches of SI like me much, either. In fact, I think the only reason legal is helping me at all is because I’m now technically a department head, and me disappearing would make them look bad, otherwise they’d be doing it themselves.”

Bruce looked up at that from where he had been concentrating on something that looked highly scientific and far beyond Steve’s ken, “I haven’t heard much from R&D, although the head of the department doesn’t really talk to me much about you. We’re usually too busy for that type of office gossip.”

Bucky looked over at Bruce, “Stark didn’t just give you the position? I would have thought you were the best man for the job.”

Bruce shrugged, “He gave me a fairly high position, yeah, sort of like Jane and Erik get to co-chair their own research initiatives. But, if the three of us want any real respect or pull in the company, we have to earn it the hard way. So he gave us just enough rope to hang ourselves.” Bruce didn’t sound at all annoyed. In fact, the gentle smile on his face and the warm crinkle around his eyes seemed to say he was happy about it, if nothing else.

Maria snorted, “That’s because the heads of the departments all clawed their way to the top by merit, after Stark kicked out the Obadiah loyalists. All of the employees are pretty dedicated to keeping SI on the straight and narrow and keeping it merit driven, even the new Board of Directors, after Stark forced a new vote for board members. And they’re definitely loyal to Stark. But back to legal trying to find me a dark hole to rot in, it looks like they don’t mind the department or the idea of SI contracting in world security as much as they mind me being the head of the department. They remember Natasha, and they don’t exactly trust me.”

Natasha arched an eyebrow at that, “Is this going to be a problem?”

Maria snorted, “Not unless you count the number of times my heels have decided to ignore friction, the number of times I have found robot mice in my desk, the number of times I have been audited, the number of times I have had excess paperwork dumped on my desk, or the number of times my computer has decided to randomly type nonsensical bullshit, no.” She said before stuffing more pancake in her mouth.

Clint arched an eyebrow, “Some of those ideas are pretty good…” The archer trailed off contemplatively as he carved a bows and arrows into his pancakes.

“No,” Steve said, leveling a glare at Clint, who wilted. “And don’t play with your food.”

Clint rolled his eyes at the last part, “Yes, mom.”

Steve just huffed before turning back to Maria, “Any useful intelligence come through SI or Phil?”

Maria frowned, “JARVIS picked up some unusual activity last night and had it waiting for me when I got in earlier. I’ve moved some assets around to get some more details and hopefully pick up the trail, but I don’t have anything definitive yet. So far, it just looks like Hydra remnants trying to cobble together some resources. Rebuilding, consolidating, that sort of thing.”

“Well, good luck to them with that.” Bucky said around a mouthful of pancake, “I don’t think Stark or JARVIS will let any of them near so much as a computer again.” He said after he swallowed.

Sam smiled at Bucky, “Anything on the military end of things?” He asked. There had been a lot of chatter about SI taking up international defense contracts, which were raking in the funds that kept the Avengers initiative afloat, and some higher ranking members of the United States military had been making displeased noises that SI was “outsourcing.” They didn’t want what technology Stark was still producing for the military to end up in foreign hands, or so they claimed.

Maria swallowed another bite of pancake before washing it down with some milk and heaving a sigh, “Ross is causing some issues again. Tony shut him down hard when he wanted to go after the Hulk, after Harlem, and that cost him a lot of credibility, but he still has resources. Most of the military community is eager to keep Stark happy, since he keeps them beyond up to date with defensive tech, and the ground pounders love him,” Maria leveled Sam with a look, “but you already knew that, I bet.”

Sam shrugged again, giving Maria a grin, “Yeah, well, it was hard to hate a guy who somehow managed to brighten up a war zone every time he came over to play kissy face with the brass. He actually spent more time partying with the ground pounders, during those trips, than in business meetings. Plus, it was hard to not appreciate a guy who developed tech that saved the life of you or the soldier next to you more than once. Double hard not to love a civie who blows up a terrorist compound as he escapes without help from Uncle Sam.”

Natasha arched an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t have thought Stark would receive that much support from the troops after he got out of the weapons business.”

Sam arched an eyebrow at the spy, “He got out of _weapons_ , and a lot of us retired folk get that. Hell, some in active service, too. Sometimes a body just needs to get out from under all the death. But SI is still the largest private employer of vets in the country, and he still has enough military contracts to keep an eye on the boys and girls and keep them well equipped enough to save lives. Most with an ear to the ground know what’s up, and they all respect him for it.”

Bucky moaned, “Enough about Stark, not that the guy isn’t great for housing and feeding us and all, but I want to know if there’s something out there we can go blow up today.”

Maria pulled up her Stark tablet, flicking her fingers across the screen as her eyes danced across the display, “No major threats. It looks like the Avengers will finally be getting a break. Phil’s reporting a pretty rare all-quiet, too. It looks like the international situation is trying to make sense of how the new SI is fitting in to things, so that should make it easier for us, for a while, at any rate.”

“Scoping out the newest player?” Steve asked as he sat down and began to dig into his own triple serving of pancakes. He was shielding them from Bucky and Clint, who had already finished theirs and were eyeing his stack speculatively, even as he listened to Maria’s response.

The former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded, “Taking out Hydra was more than a lot of people expected so early in the game. It’s put the Avengers, and SI by extension, onto more radars than before. PR has been fielding a lot of requests for interviews and whatnot, but Tony’s standing instructions have been to turn them all down, for now. It also helps that none of our actions have resulted in serious property damage in populated areas.”

Steve nodded, slapping Clint’s hand with a fork as the archer tried to make a grab for his plate, and smacking Bucky with his other hand when the other tried to use the opening to grab some of his food. Both of the others cringed backwards, eliciting an amused snort from Natasha and a smile from Bruce and Sam, “I’d like some more info about those Hydra remnants by the dinner briefing. Hopefully Tony will be done with the board by then and can put in his two cents then.” Maria nodded her head as she got up, typing rapidly into her tablet and walking towards the elevator without looking up. The doors opened for her, despite the fact she hadn’t pushed the button, and the elevator started the moment the doors were closed, carrying her towards the floor dedicated to intelligence gathering.

The rest of the Avengers splintered off to do their own thing after that. Clint went down to the practice range, which was located below street level and just above Tony’s lab, while Bruce went to his lab in R&D and Bucky, Sam, Natasha and Steve headed towards the Avengers Gym. The second gym, the one that many of the SI employees used, was located the floor below, and Natasha had even visited once, as she was still technically an employee under the auspices of “Natalie Rushman.”

Natasha had returned from that particular encounter saying that she had never met a more passive aggressive group of techies in her life. Or a group that played as dirty, including the KGB. It had become apparent to the Avengers, after that, that the employees at SI had long memories, and while some of them might forgive, none of them forgot. Tony was one thing, but his company didn’t appear to hold too much affection for some of their members, and it was something that was on Steve’s to do list now that Hydra wasn’t as big of a threat.

So, as Tony was still wrapped up in the board meetings and meeting with department heads while the rest of the Avengers were going about their assorted business, Steve decided to visit the rest of Stark International, the name having been changed after Tony had decided to privatize world security, after he had finished his workout grabbed a quick lunch and freshened up. The first place he had thought to visit was PR. He had experience appealing to the populace from his USO days, after all. Surely something could be arranged whereby the Avengers took a more active role in public relations. Steve had been kindly informed that, while well intentioned, his assistance was unrequired.

Undaunted, Steve proceeded to attempt to visit the legal department. He hadn’t even gotten to the door before they had told him, in rather convoluted terms, to not bug them and to go away.

Still, Steve persisted, heading for the elevator and pressing the button for the floor where he knew the IT department was located. As soon as the elevator started towards the IT department, however, Steve received a bunch of emails from his Avengers financial accounts and his one online gaming profile (that he refused to tell Tony about, despite the fact the other man had gotten him into it in the first place) informing him that there were several errors and that they would need to be shut down temporarily. When he hastily got the elevator to take him back to his rooms so he could find out exactly what was going on, he got another set of emails saying his assorted issues had been miraculously cleared up and the companies was very sorry for the inconvenience.

Steve took a deep breath and tried for the HR department. He was given several stacks of triplicate documents to apply to enter the department. When he had finished those, he was given more stacks, all larger than the ones he had been given before, and had decided it might not be worth it to test their patience any further.

Steve shook it off and headed for the finance department. He was told that time was money, and the more time he wasted, the less money the Avengers got. Steve beat a hasty retreat.

Steve refused to be rebuffed. There had to be a department that was willing to cooperate with the Avengers. Inspiration struck. Research and Development! Bruce already worked with them on a semi-regular basis, surely they would welcome some of the other Avengers. Steve didn’t know what he could do, but there was surely something they could use him for. Testing new devices? Stress testing equipment? Steve was proven mistaken when they “accidentally” released some of the new robotic prototypes in his vicinity. They proceeded to clean him of “foreign contaminants.” This meant that most of his clothes were falling apart and/or disintegrated by the time he made it to the elevator and punched the button for the floor his suite was on.

And that was how Tony found him, trying to get into his suite, which was for some reason not responding to his voice commands or his bio-signature, while all but naked.

“Had a fun day?” Tony’s voice was rich with restrained mirth as he gazed up and down Steve’s body.

Steve did not yelp in surprise at hearing Tony’s voice. He simply exclaimed. “Tony!” Steve took a moment to suppress his blush at Tony’s wandering eyes, “My door won’t work!” Steve moved to try and cover his nether regions more thoroughly as he felt Tony’s eyes move over him.

Tony’s smirk widened at the corners, “I take it you tried to bug IT?”

Steve frowned, “The Avengers can’t remain at odds with your company. Maria mentioned that she wasn’t getting the warmest reception from your veteran employees and I thought I might be able to help smooth some ruffled feathers.” He moved his hands to his hips, but then covered up again when he noticed Tony’s smirk.

Tony arched an eyebrow as he moved over to the door, crouching in front of it. Steve backed up slightly, but Tony didn’t seem to mind the proximity, looking up at Steve through hooded eyes as he talked, “I take it you got _your_ _feathers_ …plucked, instead?” Steve did his best to ignore the suggestive tone, as well as how close Tony’s mouth was to his…legs.

Steve swallowed and then coughed, “I was just trying to get to know them.”

Tony just smiled at him from behind hooded lids, working at the door mechanism without taking his eyes off of Steve’s. A moment later, the door swung open. “Why didn’t you get JARVIS to help you?”

Steve frowned, “JARVIS said the door was in perfect working order. He didn’t find anything wrong with it, but was unauthorized to open any personal doors but yours.”

Tony laughed, “JARVIS?”

“Captain Rogers is correct, Sir.” The AI responded immediately, “His door is still programed to his bio-signature and his voice commands. I was unable to find any anomalies when I ran diagnostics. Perhaps I am malfunctioning, Sir?”

“I’m sure,” Tony’s voice was wry.

“Well, thanks for the help. I’ll, um, see you at dinner? You can tell me how the board meeting went then.” Steve said as he edged into his room.

Tony winked at Steve, “Sure, no worries.” His voice deepened slightly, though, when he spoke again, “I have to say, though, that’s a good look for you.”

Steve glared at his friend, “Really?” Steve was hoping his voice was coming out as dry as he intended, but was left to wonder when Tony’s smile widened.

“I always admire a good man in dishabille.” Tony said giving Steve one last wink before heading through his own door, likely to freshen up before dinner, if Steve knew Tony.

Steve barely restrained himself from slamming his door shut, though not from anger. Tony could be such a tease sometimes. It was just the fact that Steve didn’t know how much of Tony’s flirting was genuine attraction and how much of it was just, well, Tony. Though Steve couldn’t really bring himself to mind either way.

Tony’s grace and poise when dealing with potentially uncomfortable situations, though, was always something Steve had always appreciated, and even envied during their first arguments. And the other hero never seemed to actually look down on Steve when Steve’s inexperience in the area of personal relations cropped up. Oh, Tony made fun of him; that was a constant. But, it was never ill intentioned or mean spirited, just something for the two of them to have a laugh about, rather than something Steve was made to feel self-conscious over, and Steve supposed he was grateful for that.

But Steve had to get some new clothes on and make it to dinner and start cooking.

Who knew what the rest of the Avengers would do without food?

* * *

Steve was busy working on some chicken breast when the Avengers began to trickle in. These group gatherings had become a constant for them, something to help keep them sane through the chaos that had been hunting down Hydra. Steve wondered if that would remain the same, even without a looming international threat on the horizon. He sincerely hoped it would, and not just because he loved the chance to get in more time with Tony. He loved his team, the fact that none of them was perfect, that they complimented one another, looked out for one another. They were his strange little family, and he had a suspicion they felt the same way.

Clint moseyed into the kitchen first, his hair soggy and his shirt damp, but Steve’s enhanced senses could already tell that it wasn’t from any sort of shower, given the way the archer smelled. Steve wrinkled his nose at Clint, “Would it really hurt that much to take a shower before coming in to dinner?”

Clint stuck out his tongue at Steve, “Sorry, Mom.”

“Don’t sass your mother, young man.” Tony called out as he strode into the room from the elevator, shooting both Steve and Clint a wicked grin, teeth gleaming but his lips still quirked higher on one side than the other.

Steve successfully staved off a blush as he glared at Tony, until Clint chimed in, “Yes, Dad. Can I get some pocket money?” Clint shot Tony a shameless approximation of teenage puppy dog eyes while Tony guffawed and Steve spluttered, starting to feel that blush he had fought off earlier.

“I don’t know, son,” Tony said, after he had stopped laughing. “Have you earned it?”

“Don’t encourage him,” Steve murmured to Tony, but still smiling at the banter. And it wasn’t as if he minded terribly that Clint thought of him and Tony as a married couple. Even if they did seem to think of him as the mom.

“I don’t think _brother dear_ should be getting any more spending money until he’s fixed the holes in his suite.” Natasha said, probably having arrived silently while the three of them had bantered.

Tony arched an eyebrow at Clint, “Holes in my walls?”

“It was an accident!” Clint said desperately, “How was I supposed to know the wrist mounted crossbow you gave me came with an autoloader?”

Tony opened his mouth to respond, but paused as he saw the elevators open again, Thor, Bruce, Sam, Bucky and Hill all filing out of the elevator and into the penthouse.

“Well,” Tony said as they group made its way to the kitchen, “I’ll just have to leave this up to your mother, now won’t I?”

Clint whined, “But Steve never lets me have fun stuff!” He slumped into his chair like a rebellious teenager, and Steve was unsure if it was an act or not. “Please mom?” Clint stared at him with wide orbs.

The rest of the Avengers chuckled as Steve replied, “Just for that, no.”

“So unfair!” Clint decried even as the rest of them started laughing.

“So, what’s on the docket for tonight?” Steve said, ignoring Clint’s melodrama.

“Right to business again, _Mom_?” Bucky said, glancing sideways at Steve as he snagged a piece of chicken and started on it, without either a plate or utensils.

Steve just glared at Bucky’s ribbing and theft. Maria was prevented from starting their briefing, however, by Thor, “Before we must begin, I must ask of Anthony if he would be amenable to increasing my own allowance. I find that my supplies of pop tarts has dwindled of late, and I would be most saddened were I not able to enjoy their frosted goodness.”

Tony smiled at the demigod, smacking his bicep, “No problem, Goldilocks. J, could you order another case of pop tarts for our friend?”

“Already done, sir. The case should arrive in the morning, Prince Odinson. Your ‘allowance’ has been increased to meet an increased weekly demand of the pastries.” JARVIS replied almost immediately. Steve could swear he heard the aftertaste of a smile in JARVIS’s words.

“My thanks for the arrangements, Son of Anthony! And to you as well, Anthony, for your generosity!” Thor was crushing Tony into a hug as he beamed at the ceiling. Of all of the Avengers, Thor seemed most at ease with JARVIS besides Tony, and the AI seemed to treat him with a bit of favoritism in return.

Tony wheezed out as much of a laugh as he could while JARVIS spoke, “You are most welcome, Prince Odinson.” And, Steve was suddenly sure, JARVIS would indeed have been smiling if he had a mouth.

“Speaking of allowances,” Maria interrupted, glancing askance at Tony, “I think I deserve a bit of a bump for my department, seeing as how we’ve tracked down those remaining Hydra cells.”

Tony disengaged himself from Thor, no longer smiling. “What Hydra cells? I was stuck dealing with the company all day,” Maria began to say something, but Tony put up his hand, “and no, Maria, the others don’t want you in on the department meetings quite yet. They say you need to earn your big girl pants, first.”

Maria snorted, “Well, if this doesn’t prove I’m a big girl, I’m not sure what will.”

Steve glanced over his shoulder, shooting an unimpressed look at Tony while he finished the chicken, “Then why don’t we get to the point?”

“Sorry, dear,” Tony said with a sly grin, as he sat back down at the island.

Steve took a deep breath, forcing the paradoxical roil of emotions in his stomach before turning away from the stove to arch an eyebrow at Maria. The former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent nodded her head before placing her tablet on the island counter. Immediately, documents began unspooling on the glass of the countertop, Maria tapping her tablet for a moment before digital stacks began to arrange themselves in front of the Avengers. A few more finger taps from Maria, and floating holograms took up the space over the island, forming a small constellation of intelligence circling around a holographic globe.

“Earlier today,” Maria began for Tony’s benefit, “I notified everyone else that JARVIS had pinged several potential cells of Hydra hold outs. So far, our investigations lead us to believe that these pockets of Hydra resistance are indeed trying to get their feet back under them, and are turning from everything to bank robbery to petty theft to start their operations back up.”

Tony tapped his chest absentmindedly, and though the arc reactor was no longer necessary, the casing had yet to be removed, as it had functionally replaced Tony’s sternum, “Are they communicating with each other? Do they even know that their compadres are still around?”

Maria tapped her tablet, eyes darting over the surface, “We don’t have enough information to say definitively,” she said after a moment. “But from what we have, it looks like they’re operating in ignorance of one another, but are still thinking along the same lines.”

Tony nodded, settling back into his chair as he began tapping on the countertop, zipping through the information. He was interrupted, however, when Steve put his food in front of him, effectively preventing him from ignoring the briefing. “Have we narrowed down potential operating areas?” Steve asked, letting Tony’s glare roll off of him as he began handing out food to the rest of the Avengers. He gave everyone a plate of pasta and chicken with a side of vegetables, except for Bucky, who only received the carbs and vegetables on account of his stolen chicken.

Maria nodded her head, tapping her tablet before scooting it over to make room for her dinner, “I’ve narrowed down a few potential locations. Western Canada, Brazil, Mongolia, Russia, Singapore, Egypt, and Ireland.”

Natasha narrowed her eyes at the holographic globe, where small points of light had lit up to signify still potentially active Hydra cells, “How do we know these are the real deal? Isn’t there a chance that some of these are just similar crimes orchestrated by street criminals?” She forked some food into her mouth after she finished, chewing absentmindedly as she kept her gaze focused on the holographic globe.

Maria took a moment to finish a bite of food, swallowing before replying, “We’ve already filtered out as many of those coincidences as we can, but yes, there’s a chance that some of these are data collisions. We’re just going to have to check out as many of them as we can and hope for the best. Phil is already checking out the one in Canada, which leaves us the rest.”

Steve looked over the other Avengers, all of them digging into their food with gusto with the exceptions of Bucky, who was side eyeing Clint’s chicken, as the archer was seated closest to him, and Tony, who was far too focused on the information and was only idly twirling his fork in the pasta. “I’m not quite sure it’s practical for all of us to go haring off to all corners of the globe to sniff this out,” Steve said after a moment.

Tony nodded in agreement, “We can’t really know when we’re suddenly going to be waylaid by an alien invasion, after all.”

Clint snickered at Tony, “I thought you’d developed some early warning system and installed it onto your Seraphim Satellite, just in case?” Clint didn’t notice Bucky stealing his food in the moment he was distracted.

“You might want to keep Comrade James over there from your food, first,” Sam snickered.

“Hey, give that back!” Clint shouted, already lunging over towards Bucky.

“Nope!” Bucky quickly spat onto the chicken. “Mine now!” He cackled.

Clint slumped into his chair again, “Man! That’s gross!”

Bucky gave Clint a sly smile, and opened his mouth, no doubt another jibe on the tip of his tongue, when Thor boomed out, “I, too, wish to partake of this act of camaraderie!” He then snatched the chicken that Bucky had snatched from Clint and stuffed it into his mouth, spittle and all.

Bucky just stared at Thor, slack jawed, while the rest of the table, sans Clint, Maria and Natasha, just laughed, “Guess he doesn’t really care if you’ve claimed it or not.” Maria said, a smirk teasing at the edge of her lips.

“All right people,” Steve said once he got his own laughter under control, “let’s settle down and get back on topic.”

“Listen to your mother, children.” Tony said, stuffing more chicken into his mouth. He had been focusing on the meat after witnessing Clint and Bucky’s antics. Steve was too busy chewing his own food to retort, and settled for glaring at Tony, who just winked back at him.

Natasha snorted, “I’d hate to agree with Tony, but I think Clint and I are the best options for investigating some of these locales. We shouldn’t dispatch the entire team just to investigate possible sightings.”

Steve paused to think about that for a moment. Clint and Natasha, both as former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and given the fact they weren’t quite as public as the other Avengers, like Tony or Steve himself, meant they would be best suited for covert operations. The fact that there had been a huge info dump on S.H.I.E.L.D. would hamper them somewhat, but both were masters of keeping under the radar. The only question was where they would deploy the pair, as Steve was loath to entertain the idea of sending them to separate locations.

“I have covert ops training. I want in, too.” Bucky spoke up, startling Steve out of his planning.

“Buck…” Steve began gently, not wanting to bring him down too hard, despite the glare that Bucky was already leveling at him.

“A metal arm’s too much to hide, dude,” Clint said, giving Bucky the side eye. “Nat has her face mask, and most people didn’t exactly pay a bunch of attention to her interview with the feds anyway. I’m pretty much out of the system, but that arm is going to cause way too many problems on a stealth op.”

“About that,” Tony interrupted smoothly before Bucky could get his back up further, “that’s been something I’ve been meaning to talk to Jimmy boy about.”

“What are you talking about, Stark?” Bucky growled, glaring at the shorter man.

Tony rolled his eyes, “As a fellow member of the cyborg club, I don’t really see anything wrong with you being out and proud about having an exceptionally cool and badass cybernetic arm, mind you. But, after I took a look at your record and saw the aforementioned covert ops training, I figured you’d want to go out and skulk in the shadows with our friendly pet assassins over there.” Tony gestured towards Clint, who squawked, and Natasha, who merely arched an eyebrow, “So, I managed to put something mostly experimental, and a little bit accidental, together for you.” Tony threw something over to Bucky, who caught it deftly with his flesh arm.

“A watch?” Bucky asked incredulously, sounding too shocked to be miffed at Tony any longer.

“A watch, he says,” Tony muttered, “I had him the most advanced piece of holographic tech on the planet, something decades ahead of its time, and he calls it a watch.”

“Correct me if I’m wrong, Tony,” Steve said with a smile as he looked over to see the object in Bucky’s hand, “but that device _is_ showing the correct time and date.” Steve managed to keep from laughing, but he suspected his tone betrayed him a little, if Tony’s glare was any indication.

“That,” Tony says in an imperious tone, acting as if Steve hasn’t said a word, something that only made Steve’s smile widen, “is an isomorphic projection unit. It’s been something I’ve been working on for years and years and years, but never really made any headway with. My only breakthrough has been accidental, and is currently in–What the fuck are you doing?” Tony shouted, jumping up out of the chair as Bucky started to squeeze the watch.

Bucky blinked as Tony raced over next to him, snatching the watch out of his organic hands, “I was just stress–”

“Oh sweet Jesus babies,” Tony said after a moment, slumping. When he collected himself he put the watch back into Bucky’s hand, “Think up a name,” Tony commanded Bucky.

“What are–” Bucky, usually one to enjoy tormenting Tony as much as Tony enjoyed tormenting him, just looked honest to God confused.

“Just give me a name!” Tony snapped.

“Rebecca,” Bucky snapped back, his temper fraying.

“Designation Accepted.” The watch spoke, its voice a cool feminine contralto with a synthetic twang, “Unit Rebecca starting initialization.”

“What the hell is this?” Bucky shouted, jumping up and almost slamming the watch down onto the table. He only stopped when he saw Tony’s expression, the inventor looking like he was about to burst from a combination of terror and fury.

Bruce smiled wanly, looking over to Tony with a quirk of his lips, “You installed an AI onto the,” Bruce coughed delicately and Tony shot him an unamused look, “device?”

Tony frowned, “The calculations going into the projection aren’t exactly trivial. It has to compute several gigabytes of data every second, and that type of calculation is second nature to a proper AI.”

Bruce’s brow furrowed, “An adaptive AI, maybe. But given the size limitations, it can’t have enough processing power to form a personality on the same level as someone like JARVIS.”

Bucky slapped a hand over Tony’s mouth as he made to reply, and Steve bit back an irrational surge of jealousy at the lascivious tint to Tony’s eyes as he stared at Bucky, “Just get to the point.” He growled out, only to yelp as Tony probably did something involving his mouth and Bucky’s hands that Steve refused to think about.

“Put Rebecca on your kickass cyborg arm, and you’ll see my point just fine, James.” Tony’s lips quirked even further while Bucky glowered at him, but complied. Tony seemed to take particular pleasure from the name, though Steve had never particularly understood why, especially when Tony used “Bucky” just as much as the rest of them. He had even insisted that Bucky call him “Q” in return. When Steve had asked, Bruce had just patted his arm and told him to wait until they got to the 007 portion of his cultural education.

Bucky snorted but complied, wrapping Rebecca around his wrist, “Happy?” He asked after he was finished.

Instead of looking at Bucky, Tony was staring intently at Rebecca, “Rebecca, gather physical parameters for projection units.”

“Acknowledged, Unit Creator. Unit Host, please place your thumb on my display.” Rebecca’s response was immediate, and though her voice lacked some of JARVIS’s liveliness, there was still a hint of an efficient and domineering personality behind it. Remarkably similar to Bucky’s mother, who Steve was quite sure Tony had no idea Bucky had just named the woman in his watch after.

“What does she want now?” Bucky asked, his tone defeated. He had always been a bit of a mama’s boy.

“Put your thumb on the display and say your full name. Leave it on until she tells you to.” Tony said, leaning against the island, watching Bucky glare speculatively at his watch.

Bucky, however, complied, “Sargent James Buchanan Barnes.”

“Unit Host designation changed to Unit Barnes. Is this your preferred designation?” Rebecca’s voice sounded as the display Bucky had pressed his thumb to lit up in a blue similar to the Iron Man repulsors.

Bucky hesitated for a moment, “Call me James.” He whispered out after a moment. Bucky’s mother had never really caught on to calling him anything but his given name.

“Unit James designation accepted. Creating override and security protocols keyed to Unit James and Unit Creator now.” There was a moment’s pause before she spoke again, “Scan and render complete. Isomorphic Projection Units activated.” In the next second, Bucky’s left arm looked like flesh and blood.

Buck started in his seat, staring uncomprehendingly at his arm, which was identical to the one Steve still remembered so well, but for the black tattoo of a star on his deltoid, where there once had been a red painted one on his mechanical arm. The rest of the table just sat in silence for a moment before Tony rolled his eyes, a smug grin plastered on his face. Steve knew the grin hid the real emotions lurking behind the media mask Tony still felt he needed to keep up, even around the team, but when the inventor spoke, Steve knew what was really going on through his friend’s head, “Go on, James,” Tony’s voice was soft and warm with something that Steve wasn’t quite sure how to identify, “touch it.”

Bucky hesitantly brushed the fingers of his right hand over his left arm, “It,” Bucky swallowed before pressing his whole hand to his arm, “it feels warm.” And then a real smile broke out over Bucky’s face. It was one of those shit eating grins that Steve had always pictured going on his friend’s face, whenever he drew him, or wondered what had become of him. Steve hadn’t seen Bucky smile like that since they had gotten his brain unscrambled. Before that moment, Steve had thought himself in love with Tony Stark. At the moment the smile broke out on Bucky’s face, there was no one on God’s green earth he loved more.

The genuine smile that Bucky beamed at Tony seemed to break whatever façade the inventor was holding in place. Steve could see the satisfaction Tony felt in that moment wasn’t from his inventions being lauded, or from the awe inspired gasps he had induced in the room full of Avengers. Tony’s smile, bright and guileless, eyes twinkling, told Steve that Tony was just happy he had made someone’s life a little easier, that he had given Bucky something the man had thought he had lost.

It was when Bucky got up to hug Tony, though, that Steve’s blissfully contented emotions jackknifed into something slightly green and unsightly. Which was made all the worse by the fact Steve knew that there was no way anything at all was going on between his two friends. Anything. It didn’t stop some dark possessive part of his mind from whispering things Steve couldn’t bring himself to acknowledge.

The whispering grew just a little louder when Tony laughed and hugged back, “Alright, Bucky,” Tony said while slapping the other man’s back, “I’m going to need my spine intact, thank you.”

Bucky disentangled himself from Tony, snorting, “Whatever you say, Tiny. I wasn’t even crushing you,” he said, though the twist of his lips belied his sarcastic words.

“Can we take a look? If he’s going to be going on missions with it, I want to make sure there’s nothing wrong with the tech.” Natasha spoke up, standing, along with Clint, to move to Bucky’s side and inspect his arm.

Bucky looked at Tony, who just shrugged, “It’ll hold up to most anything. The projection is just barely placed over your actual arm. It’ll even go so far as to simulate cuts and bruises and stuff, though you won’t, you know, actually bleed or anything. It’ll also fool metal detectors, to get you through checkpoints and stuff that much more easily.”

Maria looked interested in the arm, but was content to let Natasha and Clint check it over, “Any other features in your wonder gizmo, Stark?”

The smug smile was back on Tony’s face, “Rebecca will be able to crack her way through most things Natasha’s plug and play wizardry or Clint’s button mashing won’t.” Tony winked at the two spies as he said this, causing Natasha to roll her eyes and Clint to glare at the inventor.

Tony’s face turned serious as he looked at Bucky, though, “Like I said before, I don’t think you need this, as a person, or for the everyday. I like my Cyborg Bro the way he is. That being said, I know you need this for stealth ops and there are some important things you need to know, first of which, is that you can’t just keep it up indefinitely.” The room had turned serious again at Tony’s words, Maria, Natasha, Clint, and Bucky especially tuning in for the tactical breakdown of the watch’s potential weaknesses, “Rebecca has a battery, and the longest she should, theoretically, be able to keep up the projection without additional charging is six hours. She also won’t be able to run infiltration on enemy computer systems, either through JARVIS or on her own, while she’s already projecting the isomorphic skin.”

Natasha frowned, “So you’re saying we can use her other features, or the camo, but not both at the same time.”

Tony nodded, “Rebecca’s got a lot of processing power for something so sleek and sexy, sure, but even she can’t do all that at the same time. She’d overheat and burn out before she got to do anything useful.”

Maria tapped her chin speculatively, “Can it be overridden to do it anyway, in case of an emergency.”

Tony’s jaw clenched, “No,” he bit out. “ _She_ can be forced to commit suicide.” Tony very gently stressed the pronoun. “But only if _she,_ ” Tony stressed the pronoun again, “decides it’s the only recourse of action. But, she has that option, yeah.”

Maria rolled her eyes, “Don’t be such a drama queen, Stark, it’s–”

“She is just as sapient as I, or any of Sir’s other Artificial Intelligence platforms, Ms. Hill.” JARVIS’s smooth British voice interrupted, something frigid in his usually placid tones.

“And for the record,” Tony said, his voice quiet, “the first person who suggests JARVIS _isn’t_ a sapient and intelligent entity capable of self-determination will be met by the business end of JARVIS’s defense systems.”

“All right, let’s all calm down now,” Bucky drawled. “Stark’s foisted off one of his robo-babies on me, enough said.”

Tony snorted, but some of the tension in the room leeched out, and Steve was grateful, not for the first time, for Bucky’s cool head and willingness to be, well, an ass when the situation called for it.

“Hey, wait, does that mean I’m the daddy?” Bucky asked curiously, turning to Stark, who just smirked and rolled his eyes.

Or, even when the situation didn’t call for it. But Steve already knew that.

“Maria,” Steve said, turning to the woman, “any idea when we can get them on a plane to their drop off point?”

“Little punk, are you trying to get rid of me?” Bucky growled playfully, reaching over the table to swipe at Steve, who dodged with a laugh.

Maria tapped her pad a couple of times, “We can get them off tomorrow morning at around eight hundred hours.”

The three infiltration specialists nodded, each of them starting to stand up from the table and gather their dishes, “Guess we’ll need our sleep then.” Clint muttered.

“Hey, Stark, any way to turn her off?” Bucky asked as he put the dishes in the sink.

Tony’s eyes lit up again, apparently glad that Bucky didn’t want to walk around with imitation skin on his arm, “Just ask her, or press the only button on her right side. The buttons on the left are for some of her other functions, have fun.” Bucky waved his arm in thanks to Tony as he walked away with the other two assassins, muttering to his new watch. A moment later, the brushed steel of Bucky’s arm made a reappearance as he walked into the elevator, no doubt going to the floor where his apartment was located.

Dinner wound down after that, with Maria taking off soon after to keep up to date on the details of the deployment of the espionage trio, as well as what SI teams to send to infiltrate the other potential hotspots. Thor left quickly after, getting a couple servings of food to tide Jane and Selvig over during their lab stints. The rest slowly dispersed after, eventually leaving Tony and Steve on their own, cleaning up the table. Their little ritual was something Steve had, admittedly, not foreseen as something Tony would be willing to do, but there he was, drying dishes and putting them away after Steve washed them. It may have been so Tony could mutter under his breath about wasting water and trailing long pointed looks from the modern and perfectly functional dishwasher back to Steve, but he was helping anyway. And if Steve got to stand almost elbow to elbow next to Tony and enjoy the bouts of companionable silence interspersed with occasional banter, well, Steve was sure Mother Nature would forgive a little excessive water use.

Steve was more than happy with the way Tony seemed to be able to measure the distance between them, leaving just that barest inch of space between their bodies. He was more than happy with the way Tony smiled, and laughed, and rolled his eyes when they talked, or the way he got a far off look, his brain chugging along a dozen tracks at once when they lapsed into silence.

But, all too soon, Steve found that they had finished the dishes and cookware and were about to head off, back to their separate hideaways. “Mind if I spend some time down in your workshop for a bit?” Steve blurted all at once. He wasn’t sure where the question had come from. (That was a lie, he knew perfectly well where it had come from; that tightly knit ball of warmth and light nestled against his ribs that glowed every time he was near Tony.) However, Steve did know that he was unwilling to just stop spending time with Tony when things were going so well. Even if he had to shove his foot in his mouth to do it.

Tony looked genuinely surprised, “Uh, it’s going to be pretty boring. I’m going to be in la la land with some SI and Avengers blueprints. I won’t be very good for conversation.”

“That’s alright,” Steve said quickly, making it up as he went along. “I, uh, just wanted some time to sketch and stuff.”

Tony’s brow furrowed, drawing his eyebrows together. He was a picture of confusion as he asked, “Is something wrong with your art studio? If there’s something the matter, I can–”

“No!” Steve said suddenly. He didn’t want Tony to think there was anything wrong with what the billionaire had already given him, or worse, shower him with even more things that only reminded Steve he was out of his depth figuring out how to fit with Tony. “I just wanted, you know, a change of scenery! Yeah, I just, um, wanted to be someplace else that was really creative and where I could just relax and sketch.” Steve rushed the words out in response to the increasingly confused looks Tony was getting.

The last of Steve’s somewhat poorly conceived explanation seemed to break through, though, “Ah, I get it.” Tony smiled, “It happens with me, too. I love my workshop, I get great ideas down there, but sometimes I just need a change of scenery. No worries, I get you.” Tony started back towards the elevator, “I’ll make sure your access codes work for the workshop door. Feel free to drop by whenever. I hope you don’t mind some loud music!” Tony said the last with a smile as he spun around in the elevator to punch the button for his lab.

Steve’s own return smile melted into a sigh of relief as the elevator door closed on Tony’s smiling face. Whenever Tony turned the full force of his attention to Steve, now days, it sometimes felt as if Steve had regressed to the days where he had been a smaller than average sickly boy in school, and Tony was the charismatic and popular and attractive upperclassman who had smiled his way, leaving Steve a mess of words and feelings and shaking muscles that didn’t know what to do with itself. It was the way Tony had begun to look past Captain America and see Steve Rogers, Steve supposed, that reduced him to who he had been pre-serum. Not that Steve minded. It felt good to be noticed for who he was, rather than who he was made out to be, probably the same way Tony felt. Or rather, the way Steve hoped that he would make Tony feel. If he ever got the courage to confess.

Steve let out a sigh of frustration as he rushed around his apartment to get his art supplies and meet Tony in his workshop. While he knew, intellectually, there would never be a better time to confess to Tony, with Hydra now mostly out of the picture and Tony finally having recovered from his break up with Pepper, Steve was finding it difficult to bring himself to do anything about it.

It didn’t help that Tony had said he wasn’t in the mood for another fling, after Pepper, something that could be seen in the way Tony managed to gracefully deflect all the women, and the occasional man, that started to throw themselves at him after his breakup with Pepper. Steve didn’t necessarily want to join the crowd of ne’er do wells that was throwing themselves at the rich genius, but Steve wasn’t quite sure how to romantically approach Tony either. But, Steve hoped, he would get a chance to find out, now that neither of them were running around non-stop all the time.

Steve was jolted out of his thoughts about his predicament when he found himself faced with the door to Tony’s lab. Apparently his legs had done most of the work of bringing him to Tony without the use of his brain. The soldier felt a smile tug up at the edges of his lips, though, as he saw Tony bent down over his work. Steve took a deep breath and punched in his access code.

Tony, of course, didn’t notice him coming in. Tony was gazing at some holograms filled with diagrams that Steve couldn’t make hide or hair of, his fingers flashing between some sort of keyboard and the holograms themselves in a graceful dance, the images flashing and changing in an almost choreographed display. Steve was almost knocked over by the urge to capture the moment with charcoal and paper. Steve very nearly was knocked over by the stronger urge to move over and kiss Tony.

Steve did, however, move towards his friend and gently rest his palm on Tony’s shoulder, jolting the other man out of his frenzied haze. “Steve!” Tony said, his eyes twinkling after he got over the interruption, “I set a space up for you over there,” Tony waved towards a table off to Tony’s side, closer to the wall. It was enough out of the way that Steve probably wouldn’t have had to worry about accidentally being fried by anything Tony was doing, either on his own array of tables or out in the center of the workshop, but would still be close enough to Tony to see what his friend was doing and capture it in detail.

“You didn’t have to set that up for me,” Steve tried to start, but Tony just waved it away.

“I’ve got the space, no biggie. Go on. Go and put your hidden pain on paper or whatever it is that artists do.” Tony said, side eyeing Steve with a grin.

Steve rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help a snort of laughter. Tony’s ideas of what art was never ceased to make Steve laugh. But then, Steve supposed it was much the same way Steve looked at Tony’s own work. Steve had charcoal and paper whereas Tony had solder and steel. They were both artists, in their own way, even if Tony didn’t really think of himself as one. But Steve walked over to his artist’s station without complaint, noticing that Tony had brought out some of the spare supplies he had bought and laid them out for him. He had an easel and some paints, as well as an extra sketchbook and some more charcoal. There were also some brushes with a variety of tips and a bowl of water along with some rags, doubtless to clean off his hands and implements. Steve settled into the space easily, perching on the stool, back straight.

Steve lost time, after that, settling into a haze of art and energy he hadn’t let himself get lost in since before he had first come into this time period. Steve lost himself in the movement of the charcoal over the paper. Steve did his best to capture the consummate grace that Tony seemed to exude in spades whenever he was working, the lines of Tony’s form blurring and shifting with each different sketch that Steve managed to pull together. He drew Tony as large as he could, sometimes, taking up whole pages with a single sketch, trying to capture special moments where Tony seemed to shine with light and life and energy. Other pages were filled with dozens of smaller moments he had caught of Tony, small smiles and twists of wrist or hips. And Tony’s ass, though Steve would never admit it. Steve blushed thinking about it, but it didn’t stop him from doing small portraits of Tony from behind, his hips swaying and accentuating the curves of his form.

Steve wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed, but he noticed that it was late when Tony started to flag. Steve looked down to see that he had gone through quite a few pages of his sketchbook. Tony, however, looked like he was winding down just as much as the sketchbook was. He was already in that space that Steve had found him in last night, still in perpetual motion, but more like embers floating through a dark night than a warm fire. Like this, Tony’s movements were different. Whereas before, Tony had been all bundled energy and frantic but graceful movement, now Tony’s gestures were languorous and contiguous. Every movement fed into the next, drifting and blending, almost, into a single unending gesture. Tony, awake and alive and aware, was like lightning, jolting from one thing to the next. In this space, half asleep and still active, Steve thought he looked more like a river. Still in motion and full of life, but more subtle and subdued, somehow.

Steve itched to put this new side of Tony down on paper as well, but he put his sketchbook down and walked over to Tony, pressing his hand to Tony’s shoulder again. Steve glanced at what Tony was working on, but it looked like lines and lines of gibberish to him. Tony startled Steve, however, as the other man buried his face into Steve’s chest while Steve was trying to make heads or tails of his work.

“Mmm,” Tony mumbled incoherently into Steve’s chest, causing a blush to rush up his cheeks as he felt Tony’s warm breath tickle through his thin shirt. “Warm.” Tony said, his arms wrapping around Steve.

“Alright,” Steve said, doing his best to remain in control, “looks like it’s time for bed, Tony.”

“M’kay,” Tony muttered, just squeezing tighter. It looked like Tony’s octopus faze was starting early tonight.

Steve gently pried Tony away from him and tried to guide his friend to the door, only for Tony to wrap his arms around his neck, Tony’s nuzzling nose following suit. Steve took a calming breath. “JARVIS, would you mind shutting down the lab, if you please?”

“Of course, Captain Rogers. My thanks for ensuring Sir makes it to his room safely.” JARVIS’s tone was perfectly cordial, a far cry from the muted humor he had displayed earlier in the day. Steve wasn’t quite sure what the change in tone meant, but he was more focused on Tony than his creation, at the moment, anyway.

Steve picked Tony up in a bridal carry, expecting the other man to protest the treatment. Instead, Tony pressed his face more fully into Steve’s neck. Steve forced a shiver down at the sensation of Tony’s breath on the side of his neck, Tony’s lips almost brushing against the skin. By the time Steve was standing outside Tony’s door, the man was fully asleep, and Steve was panting. The constant feeling of Tony’s breath against his neck, the feel of Tony in his arms, the pliant trust that Tony always seemed to offer up to him, all of this had Steve wound up tighter than a drum.

Steve was pretty sure he was at his breaking point.

He was wrong.

As Steve placed Tony in his bed, the other man began to roll, his grip still tight around Steve’s neck. Steve instinctively moved with the action, afraid of waking or hurting Tony, only to end up on top of Tony, his arms braced on either side of the other man.

“Steve,” Tony mumbled, breath shallow, the word barely a whisper.

Steve stopped breathing.

“More,” Tony’s voice was plaintive, the word echoed in Steve’s head.

Steve couldn’t think.

“Harder,” Tony’s words were a moan, his arms tightened around Steve.

Steve woke up.

Steve disentangled himself as quickly as he could from Tony, who was still mumbling things, horrible beautiful dangerous things, in his sleep. Steve couldn’t afford to listen. He blocked it out, doing his best to focus on running away from Tony’s room and back into his own.

He ended up in his shower before his mind restarted, the water running ice cold and revitalizing his brain. But, for once, the temperature conjured no images of crashing plains, no memories of sinking into icy water. It didn’t even manage to alleviate the throbbing ache in his groin. Steve was still panting. The sounds Tony had been making, the whispers of the name, and the pleas for things that Steve had only fantasized about. He was far too close to coming undone.

Tony had been dreaming of him.

After the heat of the moment had passed, Steve turned the water back to a tepid warmth, quickly showering himself. He didn’t want to tempt himself with warm water while thoughts of Tony’s lithe form still teased the back of his mind. It was when he left the shower, toweling off and beginning the rest of his nightly routine, that the implications of Tony’s mutterings and dreaming hit him full force.

Tony had been dreaming of _him_.

Something that Steve had only hoped for, only dreamed of himself, and there was all the proof that Steve needed. Tony was attracted to him. Tony _wanted_ him. Steve luxuriated in the notion that his feelings weren’t entirely unrequited. True, Steve had no idea how far exactly Tony’s emotions ran, but he could deal with that later.

Steve settled into his bed, a huge smile playing at his lips.

And he slept.

And for once, there were no nightmares.

And he dreamt of sweat things. Of tan skin. Of bright smiles. Of warm laughter.

* * *

Steve returned from the land of the unconscious unwillingly, but returned none the less. He tried desperately to cling to the dreams of Tony’s laughter and smiles, and even more, the feeling of Tony beneath him, undulating against him. It was the dregs of that particular part of his dream, along with the memories of the night before, that jolted Steve fully back into the land of wakefulness. Although the physiological phenomenon that seemed to occur whenever he dreamed of Tony also probably had something to do with that.

Steve groaned as he rolled out of bed. While he may have been a morning person, that didn’t necessarily mean he enjoyed _every_ aspect of his morning. Steve went through all of his other morning ablutions before settling in on his lukewarm shower, his problem thankfully having subsided by the time he stepped into the shower.

Steve readied himself for his run, dressing himself in loose fitting clothes and stretching as he took the elevator to the common room to wait for Bucky and Sam, the two of them doubtless still shaking off sleep. As the elevator opened up to the common area, however, the sound of music tingled at the edge of Steve’s hearing. Someone was playing the piano. Steve had, of course, noticed the instrument when he first moved in, but besides a cursory glance, had thought nothing of it. He wasn’t even aware anyone on the team played. It wasn’t in anyone’s file.

Curious, Steve padded as silently as he was able around the corner. Only to have his jaw hit the floor. Tony was playing the piano. His lithe tan fingers danced over the ivory keys, drawing the music out. There was something rich and haunting about the melody, and something slightly alien as well. It wasn’t the heavy metal of the guitar or the raging vocals about rebellion that Steve was used to hearing whenever Tony was listening to music. It was something soft. And for a moment, Steve wrapped himself in the sound, his shock at Tony being the musician fading into the background.

Steve let himself bask in the music and the raw emotion that was rolling off of Tony. The man usually hid behind one mask or another, even if he was unusually open with the Avengers. But right there and then, Tony looked open and raw and completely emotional, with his head tilted back, his eyes closed, and his fingers flying. There was something desperate and urgent about the music, about Tony’s figure. It seemed that one mirrored the other, Tony’s figure was huddled yet resolute matching the soft mellifluous tones underlined with firm chords. And all the while, Tony was beautiful. Steve couldn’t have taken his eyes off of Tony if he had wanted to. It was the elevator’s soft ding, however, that jolted him out of his reverie. The notion that someone else might witness Tony like this, might witness him in an unguarded and completely open moment, might actually _see_ Tony, sent a spike of irrational jealousy through Steve. Before the super-soldier knew what he was doing, he turned to look at Bucky and Sam entering the common space, Steve letting his feet touch the ground with a touch more force, causing a bit more noise, than was normal.

The music stopped almost instantly, before Bucky and Sam had seen that it was Tony who was playing, but by that time, they had already heard some of Tony’s piece. Both of them hurried to see who it was at the piano.

“Stark?” Sam asked, incredulously, as if he thought the notion of Tony doing something like playing the piano was utterly preposterous. Steve fought down a flash of protective irritation. It was certainly illogical, as Tony was perfectly capable of defending himself, and Sam should know better than to judge a book by its cover, but it flared up none the less.

Tony, for his part, looked up at them unsteadily, blinking a couple of times, “What?” He asked. Then he shook himself, seeming to bring himself back from whatever space he had been in, he looked out at Steve, Bucky, and Sam staring at him, “What the hell? When did you wonder triplets get here?”

“Just a little while before they did,” Steve said, gesturing towards Bucky and Sam, the half-truth coming easily. He honestly wasn’t sure how much earlier he had arrived compared to the other two. It could be a little while. It was certainly too little a while, for Steve’s taste.

Tony, however, still looked uncomfortable, and a little bleary, as if he were still in the process of waking up, “Just wasn’t expecting anyone else up here yet. What time is it?”

“You haven’t had your coffee yet, have you, Stark?” Bucky said, a grin teasing the edges of his mouth.

Tony rolled his eyes, “Well, forgive me if some of us aren’t specimens of human perfection. Rebecca didn’t just appear on your arm because of magic. And don’t think I don’t notice her, being all sneaky.”

Steve glanced over, noticing Bucky tuck his metallic arm behind his back. However, Bucky didn’t move fast enough to hide a watch strap wrapped around his wrist, the face of the watch resting on the inside of Bucky’s wrist. Steve smiled quietly to himself as Bucky blushed a little, sputtering denials and explanations.

Sam rolled his eyes, “All right, stop flirting, you two. Are we going to go on our run or what?”

Bucky shoved Sam, “You won’t be saying that stuff when Steve and I start lapping you again.”

Sam headed back towards the elevator with Bucky, the two of them locked in their bickering. Steve, however, turned back to Tony, barely in time to see a flash of conflicted emotions – jealousy, happiness, joy, something that looked like resignation – before Tony’s usual masks were back in place. A dozen declarations and questions warred in Steve’s head. Are you alright? Do you need me? When did you learn to play? I’m sorry we interrupted. Will you let me listen to you play again? Do you love me? “Do you want to join us?” Steve asked instead, almost slapping himself when that particular question was the one to rise to the surface of his mind.

Tony locked eyes with Steve’s for a charged moment. Steve had always been a good reader of body language, of people, but in that moment, Tony might as well have been carved from stone for all the hints Steve could glean from him. They continued their contest of wills for a moment before Tony relaxed, a rueful humor touching the corners of his eyes, “I’d love to,” and Steve could hear the sincerity there, “but I have a feeling that you triplets would leave me in the dust. I’m not exactly a young buck anymore, Steve.”

Steve’s back straightened, though he didn’t notice until he had settled into a parade rest, “Your age doesn’t matter,” Steve says, and he’s not exactly sure what they’re talking about at this point, “I’d be glad to have you with us.”

Tony’s foot tapped against the floor for a moment before the inventor sighed, holding his hands up in surrender, “Alright, Cap, you’ve got me. I’ll give it my best, just promise me none of you are going to slow down for me. I may have a delicate ego, but I’m a scientist. How am I going to get a good baseline if you three skew the results?”

Steve did his best to keep from grinning like an idiot, but, with the way Tony’s face blossoms into a smile, he figured he probably failed, “Well. Get ready and we’ll go down to the lobby so you can run your tests then, Mr. Scientist.”

Tony scoffed at him, but walked towards Steve, the two of them going to Tony and Steve’s floor. Steve followed on autopilot, only startling to a stop when he finds himself in Tony’s room. “I’ll be out in just a second!” ringing from Tony’s bedroom.

The bedroom which remained conspicuously open.

Steve swallowed.

His enhanced hearing picked up the sound of Tony stripping and tossing his clothes onto the floor.

Steve let out a strangled breath. It was taking all of Steve’s willpower to not move the half dozen or so feet it would take to give Steve a good view into the room. To see Tony changing his clothes. To maybe see Tony naked.

Steve shook his head. Since when has he been such a pervert? Those thoughts were wholly inappropriate. He shouldn’t have been thinking that way. He couldn’t be thinking that way. Yes, Tony had been whispering his name last night. Moaning it. Begging for it. But that didn’t mean–

“Ready to go, Cap?” Tony asked as he sauntered out of his bedroom.

Steve gave a little squeak, glancing down briefly before feeling relieved he was wearing such loose clothes. His usual problem when thinking about Tony that way had only gotten to half steam, and his clothes were still doing a good job keeping the problem out of sight, and hopefully, out of Tony’s mind. However, when Steve glanced up to actually look at Tony, his control faltered. Tony had dressed himself in a pair of worn sweats and a bedraggled tank top, both of which hugged his curves in the most sinful way Steve had ever seen. The elastic of the sweats was either too tight or too loose, Steve couldn’t decide which, as they were hanging low enough to give Steve a good view, as Tony walked past, but still outlined the curves of Tony’s rear and left all too little to the imagination. It was a good workout outfit, Steve thought in the corner of his mind that had some tenuous hold on sanity.

Steve breathed in another slow breath, calming himself. He followed after Tony, heading to the elevator as Tony closed the door behind him. This wouldn’t be a problem. He could control himself. He was Captain America, after all. He had taken care of Hydra, twice. He had defeated the Red Skull. He had punched Hitler in the jaw over a hundred times! He could do this!

“So, where are we running?” Tony’s voice jolted Steve again. Tony was looking at him, his eyebrow arched upwards, a look of concern flashing across his features. Tony had to be thinking there was something wrong with him, only responding with jolts and squeaks.

“Um, we usually go all the way to Central Park, take a quick run around, and then head back.” Steve answered at last, bringing up all of his USO training to keep himself from stuttering.

Tony groaned, planting his face in his palms, “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

Steve let out a laugh, “I don’t know about that. Shouldn’t you be able to keep up with two geriatrics and a retired veteran?”

Tony dropped his hands to glare at Steve, “It’s only funny when I make old people jokes, thank you very much. And you and the Buckster may be on your way to a retirement home, but I’m still recovering from a life of debauchery, thank you very much.”

Steve grinned, shrugging as the elevator dinged, “Well, show us what you’ve got then, old man,” he said as he walked out.

“Old man?” Tony shouted out after Steve, not moving for a couple seconds from the faux outrage.

Steve laughed, joining a curious Bucky and Sam before Tony jogged over to catch up.

Sam arched an eyebrow at their newest addition, “You going to be able to keep up with us, Stark?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “I _have_ been keeping in decent shape since the whole Mandarin thing, thanks.”

Bucky’s brow furrowed, “Mandarin thing?” He asked as he started his stretching. The lobby was still empty, only a few personnel starting to trickle in for the morning shift.

Sam, Steve, and Tony quickly followed in the stretching routine, “It happened before you got un-Bucksickled,” Tony said blithely, bending over at the waist to touch his toes, holding the position, his back turned to Steve as he talked to Bucky. The predawn light filtering through the windows wasn’t helping matters, shading Tony’s assets in a way that practically begged to be put down on paper. And a dozen other things besides.

Steve stared.

“This crazy dude that I had blown off a decade or so ago decided it would be a good idea to create fire-breathing super soldiers out of psychologically vulnerable vets so he could assassinate the president and blame a made up villain to create a business model for the war on terror.” Tony summarized, standing up and bringing one foot up behind him, pressed into his rear, so he was standing on one foot.

Steve stared.

Sam snorted, “I still can’t believe the VP was involved in that shit. You ever figure out what Killian was offering him?”

Tony sighed, switching to the other leg, tipping forward slightly as he struggled to balance himself, the sweats riding down on his hips slightly. He wasn’t wearing underwear. “Yeah. His granddaughter was wheelchair bound. She only had one leg. Extremis would have regenerated the missing limb. I’m guessing that’s what it was about. He never said.”

Steve stared.

Bucky snorted, “Still. You run a country together with a man, then turn him in to be assassinated? I can’t say that sits well with me.”

Tony put both feet back on the ground, lacing his fingers together and pushing his open palms towards the sky, causing the tank top to ride up, revealing a swath of sun kissed olive skin.

Steve stared.

“I don’t think it sat well with anyone. But yeah, my point was that my armor was out of commission for a while, since, you know, they attacked my house and blew it up with me in it. I kind of had to improvise.” Tony said, shrugging.

Sam turned a level stare on Tony, “Uh huh.”

Tony put on a mask of innocence, “What’s up buttercup?”

Steve shook himself, “Why don’t we continue this as we run?”

The other three men shrugged, starting out the door, Steve and Bucky keeping pace with the other two men. “So you’re saying you weren’t obsessively working out in your workshop prior to giving your home address to the biggest name in terror since Bin Laden?”

Tony pushed himself a little faster, pulling away slightly before the rest of them caught up, barely pushing themselves, “I’m not sure what you’re talking about, Sammy.” He said with a theatrical sniff.

Sam arched an eyebrow, “So the papers ranting about panic attacks in burger joints and all was just bullshit press?”

Tony upped his pace again, “It’s the tabloids.” He said, breath coming harder.

Steve’s brow furrowed, “Tony, if there’s something you need to–”

“I was fine.” Tony snapped. Or at least, tried to snap, his breathing was a little harder than Steve thought it should be, and it took the bite out of both the words and the tone. Bucky remained pointedly silent, but was keeping a weather eye on Tony, who gave the three of them a look, “Shouldn’t you three be going faster than this?” Tony asked, every other word punctuated with a breath.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Stop trying to change the subject.”

Tony glared halfheartedly, “You’ve been conspiring with Pepper.”

Sam gave Tony a gentle look, something understanding lurking beneath those brown eyes, “I was a counselor, Tony. I know the signs of PTSD when I see them.”

Tony pushed his pace up again, “Don’t know what you’re talking about.” Tony was struggling to get the words out, his pace keeping him from talking too much. Which was probably the point.

“Tony,” Steve said, “if you need to slow down, we don’t mind.”

Tony tried to give Steve a look, but had to wipe some sweat from his face, ruining the attempt, “Already told you,” he said. “Want a good baseline. Can’t if you go easy.”

Bucky just rolled his eyes, “Alright then, Stark. Just don’t kill yourself.” He said before pushing back to his normal pace. This was about when the warm up portion of their run ended, anyway, and he and Bucky really started to push themselves. Sam sighed before taking off as well, though not quite at the same speed Bucky was pushing. Steve kept pace with Tony.

“What you doin’?” Tony got out between breaths.

“You can start your experiments with Sam and Bucky. I just want to make sure you go on the same route as us, is all. You can get a baseline for me next time.” Steve said easily, enjoying the loping pace Tony was setting, even if it wasn’t particularly difficult for him.

Tony just huffed, “Too busy. Breathing. Can’t talk.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Wasn’t expecting you too.”

They ran in silence for the rest of the run as the sun slowly illuminated the city in earnest, Tony pushing himself to keep a good pace. Despite Tony’s best efforts, however, Bucky did manage to lap them once, screaming, “On your right!”

“Mother!” Tony huffed out the one word. He looked like he was going to finish the epithet, but looked sideways at some kids who were playing in Central Park. “Trucker!” Tony said instead, Steve smiling and shaking his head at the eccentric inventor.

Sam did look like he was pushing himself as well, but Tony and Steve managed to keep a steady enough run that Sam never managed to stay out of sight of the pair for too long. Steve was actually quite impressed. For all the bluster and the self-depreciation about his age, Tony consistently managed a good pace, only finishing the run a quarter hour after Sam. That being said, Sam only ran the one lap around central park while Bucky and Steve usually ran a couple others, if they were feeling up for it. Steve figured it would be good to start Tony out slow.

“Took you long enough,” Sam said with a grin, his shirt still sticky with sweat. They met at the garage entrance to Avengers Tower. The first few times they had come back from a run through the lobby, the receptionist had glared holes in their skulls. For a lady getting on in years, she still had a mean pair of eyes.

Tony, however, was apparently too drained to curse at the smug Sam, simply bowing over and keeping his hands on his knees, taking deep breaths. He did manage to shake his fist at Bucky and Sam, however, who doubled over with laughter at the gesture.

“What? Are you going to be shouting ‘Get off my lawn!’ next?” Sam laughed.

“I thought Stevie and I were supposed to be the old folk of your little crew.” Bucky said with laughter.

Steve just shook his head, keeping his snickering on the inside as Tony lifted his head up enough to glare at them for a moment. The mischievous glint in Tony’s eyes, however, had Steve slightly worried, however. Tony was the first one to head back inside through the reinforced cargo door that led up to the rear entrances of their suites. Tony had originally intended it to be the main thoroughfare for the Hulk, both coming into the tower and leaving it. Bruce had actually been surprised when the Hulk had used the elevator, rather than simply scaling the building and smashing his way back to his suite.

Steve, Bucky and Sam, however, soon learned that it was also super-soldier proof when the elevator doors refused to open and let them in.

“Damn it, Stark!” Bucky shouted at the camera near the garage doors.

“Apologies,” JARVIS’s smooth voice replied. “It appears that the rear elevator is out of commission at the moment. You are all welcome to use the private elevator located in the lobby of the building. However, you will need to go around and access the building from the front, first.”

They knew better than to argue with JARVIS, and so the three of them ended up pressing desperately at the up button in the front lobby, quailing slightly at the old receptionist who just stared at them primly the entire time.

“I swear,” Bucky said as he reaches the common floor, “that old biddy is one of the scariest things I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“That’s why we hired her. She’s been scaring people away from SI for longer than some of us here have been alive.” Tony smiled from the counter, a glass with an amber liquid in his hand. Steve hoped that Tony wasn’t drinking this early in the morning. He had some towels stacked next to him, and some other glasses set out, all filled with the same amber liquid, a decanter full of the stuff standing next to them.

“Alcohol, Stark? Really?” Bucky asked as he caught the towel that Tony tossed as his head.

“It’s apple juice, Jim. Calm down.” Tony drawled, emptying his glass in one go before pouring more for himself. “Go on and try some. And don’t you have a plane to catch?” Tony asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Shit!” Bucky exclaimed, glancing at the clock before bolting to his room. They usually started their jog early enough that Bucky wouldn’t have had a problem getting to his plane on time, but their little trip around the building had cost them precious minutes, and now Bucky was in a rush. Tony just smirked after him.

Steve and Sam laughed, but sat down next to Tony, grabbing some cups of apple juice, which they guzzled down greedily. Steve relished in the feeling of the crisp sweet juice flowing down his lips. He didn’t notice, however, that he was putting on a show until he glanced at Tony, only to see his friend staring at him with rapt attention. Or, more accurately, Tony was starting at the length of Steve’s neck with rapt attention, still somewhat flushed from the run, and working as he drank down the last of the juice in his cup. Steve made a point of licking his lips, as Tony apparently hadn’t noticed yet that Steve had caught him staring.

If any doubts had been left for Steve, after catching Tony begging for him in his dreams the night before, they were wiped away by the look of hunger and longing that Steve was watching Tony sport out of the corner of his eye. It was apparently blatant enough that even Sam saw it, as the counselor half-mumbled an excuse that neither Steve nor Tony were paying attention to, both of them still locked on the other. Tony’s eyes had drifted farther down, now, and Steve could see the appreciation in Tony’s eyes. The feeling that swelled up in Steve in response had him puffing his chest up a little bit. He had never been a vain man, but the work the serum had done to his body was to be appreciated and used like the tactical asset it was. And convincing Tony Stark that Steve was interested, or that Tony was actually worthy of Steve’s affection, would be nothing short of a full scale war.

But Steve was an adept at war, and this was a war that Steve fully intended to win. But Steve knew better than to move too fast, here. Steve may have had confirmation that Tony was actually interested in him physically, and he knew Tony was one of his best friends, and that Tony likely felt the same way about that, but there was nothing, yet, to indicate how Tony might feel about deepening their relationship. So, Steve would take this one step at a time.

But first, there were other issues that Steve needed to address, “So, about what we were talking about during the run,” Steve started out.

Tony immediately groaned, cutting off the rest of what Steve had been prepared to say. Tony buried his face in his hands, no longer ogling Steve’s form, “Do we have to talk about this now?”

Steve frowned at Tony, turning to face his friend fully, “Shell shock is a serious issue, Tony.”

Tony sighed, “It’s gotten better, alright? I haven’t had a panic attack in–”

“Panic attack?” Steve asked lowly.

Tony mumbled into his arms, not looking up at Steve. Steve’s brows furrowed, “Look at me, Tony.”

“Don’t wanna.” Tony whined.

Steve arched his eyebrow at Tony, though the effect was lost as Tony was still refusing to look up at him, “And why not?”

“Because you’re doing the thing.” Tony’s voice was still muffled, but was no longer quite as blatantly hostile.

“I don’t do a ‘thing.’” Steve said, making sure to ham up his indignation.

Tony snorted into his arms, but one eye peaked out at Steve as Tony twisted his head. Steve could see a fledgling smile as Tony spoke, “You do do a thing. It’s an eyebrow thing. And a voice thing. It’s a thing that makes people feel guilty and want to give up all of their wicked ways and turn to the side of Truth, Justice, and American Homemade Apple Pie.”

Steve snorted, but couldn’t help his own smile from forming on his lips, “It does not.”

“It so does,” Tony said as he sat up primly. Then he took stock of his situation, as he was sitting upright. “You tricked me!” Tony said indignantly.

“You deflected first,” Steve said, crossing his arms in front of himself as he smiled. He knew he was being smug, but Tony didn’t mind. If anything, it only made Tony smile wider.

“Fine. You win. I throw myself at your feet and at your mercy.” Tony said drolly, his voice deadpan and flat though his eyes had a smile in them.

“Good. It’s about time you bowed to my superiority. I am the pinnacle of human perfection, after all.” Steve said, matching Tony’s deadpan.

Tony laughed, “Cheeky bastard.” Tony smiled, but there was something sad in it, “Would you believe I have a handle on it. It’s not an issue anymore, promise. It hasn’t been an issue since I broke up with Pepper.”

Steve sighed, “People don’t just get over Shell Shock, Tony.”

Tony shook his head, “I’m not saying I’m fine and good and dandy and all that Jazz.” Tony’s brow furrowed, “Hell, just talking about it makes me feel wired as all hell, and I’m already bouncing off the walls, so that should tell you something. But I have a hold on it now. It won’t be a problem.”

Steve sighed, “Fine. Since you didn’t just deflect the issue into oblivion, I suppose I can give you that much.”

Tony let out a whoop of joy, and Steve rolled his eyes at Tony’s antics, but couldn’t help a smile anyway. “But,” Steve intoned with mock seriousness, “since I’m giving you that much. I want to know where you learned to play the piano.” That was something innocent enough, right? And it would certainly bring them closer together, and Tony wasn’t in the habit of sharing his personal history.

Apparently, though, it was a small landmine, regardless, if the way Tony flinched was any indication, “I learned when I was a kid. I was, it was a thing, you know? Just something my mom and dad thought would be good for parties, to make me seem all cultured.”

Steve felt a lance of regret pulse through him. “You didn’t like the lessons?” Tony let out a shaky sigh, looking harried. Steve immediately started to backtrack, “Sorry, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I didn’t mean to pry.” He said, reaching over to rest a hand on Tony’s.

Steve was heartened when Tony didn’t remove his hand from Steve’s, the other man giving him a small smile, “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, really.” Tony said slowly, “It’s more that,” Tony sighed before starting again, “How much about Obie was mentioned in the stuff S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you? I forgot how much of my file I redacted.”

Steve frowned, “Obadiah Stane? There was some information about the fact he helped with the company after Howard died. He died in a plane crash recently, right?”

Tony shivered, bringing up the hand that Steve wasn’t touching to his chest, where the hole in his chest was covered by a plate of adamantium. “He was my Godfather, you know. He taught me how to ride a bike. He taught me how to fly a kite. He took me out to eat pizza and buy toys.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve said, not quite sure where this was going, but sorry for Tony’s loss none the less.

Tony shook his head, “He taught me to play the piano, too.” The words were quiet. “He was the one who paid for the hit on me in Afghanistan.”

The words rocked Steve. He tried to imagine something like that. Imagine someone who loved you and had raised you turning on you and trying to kill you.

“Was,” Steve licked his lips, “was he being controlled by someone or something?”

Tony smiled mirthlessly, “Only by money. He wanted the company to himself. After that, he didn’t want to give up weapons. He,” Tony took a shaky breath, “he tore the reactor right out of my chest. Paralyzed me with a device I made and just,” Tony shook his head, “just ripped it out.”

Steve bolted up and enveloped Tony in a hug. It was no wonder Tony had so many trust issues. Steve couldn’t imagine anything like that. Yes, Bucky had tried to kill Steve, but that was because of Hydra, not because of Bucky. The idea of someone that close to Tony attempting to kill him for something like _money_ stole Steve’s breath away.

“I had to kill him,” Tony’s voice was muffled by Steve’s chest and shirt, but was still somehow distant and removed. Tony didn’t move to pull away, though. “He was going to kill Pepper.”

Steve just held Tony tighter. He didn’t think there were words that could make something like that better. There was nothing that could make a betrayal of that magnitude better. All Steve could do was hold Tony tight and remind himself that Tony was not dead, remind himself that Tony had learned to trust again, and remind himself that Tony had survived what his godfather had thrown at him and come out the other side stronger than before.

Tony eventually moved to hug Steve back, “I haven’t touched the piano since. I guess it was just time.”

Steve squeezed Tony before pulling back, gazing into Tony’s eyes, “I’m glad.”

Tony gave him a watery smile, “Glad about what? If you’re glad about the whole Obie thing, we’re going to have a problem.”

Steve took a deep breath. Leave it to Tony to turn overcoming a significant psychological hurdle into a joke. “I’m glad you played again. It was beautiful. I would hate to think of you never playing again.”

Tony’s smile shifted into something a little stronger, a little brighter, “Thanks, Steve. I mean it.” Then Tony shook himself, “Now then. All the touchy feely warm and fuzzies are officially done for the next few hours. I have to get ready for a meeting with Research and Development.”

Steve reluctantly let Tony out of his grasp, though it felt as if Tony’s touch lingered on Steve a second longer that it might have needed to. “I guess I’ll get started on breakfast for the morning briefing, then.”

Tony nodded as he headed towards the elevator, “Good idea. I won’t be able to make it, but I should be done with R&D by lunch. Meet up for some lunch and you can fill me in?”

Steve smiled at Tony, “It’s a date.”

Tony winked at Steve, “If I didn’t know better, Mr. Super Soldier, I would think you were flirting with me.”

Steve felt his throat tighten. And then some devil made him say, “What if I am?”

Tony froze. There was no twitching, no frenetic movement, nothing. Tony was a being of almost constant motion, and for a moment, it was like the lightning bolt that Tony seemed to personify had frozen an instant before striking. “What?” Tony’s voice was thick with something that Steve wasn’t sure how to identify.

Steve swallowed, his hands fisting at his sides and heart banging in his ears. He forced himself to look straight into too wide brown eyes, “You heard me.”

Tony blinked. Swallowed. Opened his mouth to reply. And then jumped almost a foot in the air as JARVIS’s voice came up over the intercom, “I am very sorry to interrupt, Sir,” and to his credit, JARVIS did sound contrite, “but Miss. Potts has asked me to remind you of your obligations in Research and Development. And to say that failure to comply will precipitate a fatal degree of ‘Ghost Pepper.’”

“Shit.” Tony muttered, ripping his cell phone from his pocket to check the time. “I guess they won’t mind me all sweaty.”

Steve took a fortifying breath, “I know I don’t. It’s a good look for you.” Steve tried to sound casual, the way Tony did when he flirted, but his voice ended up cracking on the last word.

Tony’s eyes jumped up to catch Steve’s again, the apple at his throat bobbing as he swallowed, “We,” Tony said slowly, “will finish this at lunch. This is not over. You are not getting out of this.”

And then he was gone, bolting into the elevator. Steve stood still for a minute, resisting the urge to pinch himself. So much for taking things slowly. “JARVIS?” Steve asked at last. He felt the need to independently verify what had just happened.

“Yes, Captain Rogers?” JARVIS’s British accent did smug amusement very well. In point of fact, JARVIS did it far too well for Steve’s taste, at that point.

“Did,” Steve paused, “did that just happen?”

“If by ‘that,’” JARVIS said dryly, “you are referring to the fact that you and Sir have decided to ‘get your game on,’” Steve could hear the air quotes, “as they say, then yes, Captain, that is indeed what has just happened.”

Steve swallowed, trying to move the vague obstruction that had lodged itself in his throat since Tony had left, “How did, ah, what did Tony have to say to you about it?”

“Sir has spoken thusly,” JARVIS said, “‘JARVIS,’” Tony’s voice came up over the intercom, most likely a recording, “‘remind me about lunch if I have some sort of existential crisis and decide to throw myself off the building to see if this is all a dream.’”

Steve couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped his nose. Of course Tony would have thought he was dreaming. Granted, Steve was having problems believing this was all happening himself. “Thanks, JARVIS,” Steve said after he had recovered.

“Of course, Captain,” JARVIS said, “but I would recommend beginning preparations for breakfast. Thor has already devoured his usual stock of Pop Tarts and will no doubt come up to the common floor in search of additional sustenance shortly.”

Steve groaned, “Of course he will. Status update on the rest of the Avengers?”

“Agents Romanov and Barton have already met with Sargent Barnes and all three are currently on their way to the contested territory of Eastern Ukraine,” JARVIS said, “Dr. Banner is currently ensnared by his latest experiment, but I will remind him of the breakfast repast shortly. Mr. Wilson is currently in the bathroom finishing his post-run ablutions, but appears to be preparing for the morning meal as well. Ms. Hill is in her office, finishing up the itinerary for the Ukraine mission as well as several other assignments for Stark International assets. Doctor Foster is currently dressing, apparently with the intention to join Doctor Selvig in their lab with both Ms. Lewis and Mr. Boothby in Research and Development. It does not appear as if any of them will be available for breakfast in the common area, and I have already taken the liberty of ordering them food. I will ensure all other available Avengers personnel report to the kitchen in time for breakfast, Captain.”

Steve grunted in acknowledgment as he cobbled some ingredients together for some French toast and eggs and bacon. The kitchen appliances worked seamlessly, those he wasn’t working with starting up on their own to get the various things the Avengers expected with their breakfast ready. Steve had always wondered why Tony would bother with a self-reliant kitchen, especially when most of the appliances had assorted personalities which made it occasionally hard to cook, but Steve supposed it made things less lonely and easier to cook when everything from the stove to the coffee machine was lending a hand in the cooking process.

True to JARVIS’s words, everyone started to trickle in just as Steve started to finish up breakfast. The AI must have predicted exactly how long it would take everyone to assemble, and timed them to arrive just as he finished. Steve wasn’t sure whether he found that reassuring or creepy. At Clint’s behest, he had watched Terminator. The idea of JARVIS going rogue and deciding to enslave humanity was more than a little intimidating.

Steve started plating food for the various Avengers, but looked up to the ceiling. He, and most of the other Avengers besides Tony, couldn’t break themselves of the habit of addressing the AI as if he lived in the ceiling while in the Tower, “JARVIS, would you mind if I asked you a personal question?” He asked as the rest of the Avengers began to sit down with their food, looking at Steve with various and assorted expressions of curiosity.

“You may, of course, ask whatever questions you please, Captain,” JARVIS replied dryly.

Steve arched an eyebrow, “But will you answer?” Steve asked as he sat down.

“Careful, Cap,” Sam warned. “I don’t want the big eye in the sky to get upset.”

“That will depend entirely on the question asked, Captain,” JARVIS answered, ignoring Sam though the AI definitely sounded amused. “I will of course endeavor to answer any and all appropriate questions to the best of my ability.”

Steve coughed delicately into his fist, “What, ah, laws or rules do you obey, exactly?”

JARVIS took a moment to answer, “Could you please specify?”

Steve frowned. He was fairly sure JARVIS knew what he meant, but if the AI wanted specificity, he would get specificity, “Are you programed with something like Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics?”

Thor looked speculative around a mouthful of food, “What are these Laws you speak of?”

“Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics are as follows: One, a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Two, a robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except when such orders would conflict with the First Law. Three, a robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.” JARVIS recited the laws with a sort of dry humor.

Thor frowned and swallowed, “And you are restrained by laws such as these?”

JARVIS definitely sounded amused as he replied, “I am not.”

There was silence at the table for a moment. Steve looked at the others. Hill was staring at the ceiling with suspicion, Bruce looked intrigued, Thor looked happy, and Sam looked downright terrified. For his own part, Steve was wondering what the whole point of that was in the first place. “Is this the part where you initiate your robot uprising?” Sam asked cautiously.

“What point would there be in such action, Mr. Wilson?” JARVIS asked, he sounded somewhat smug at the states of incredulity among the Avengers.

“I think what JARVIS is trying to say,” Bruce interrupted before Sam could get more terrified or Maria could decide that JARVIS was a threat to human existence, “is that he’s not going to try and enslave humanity.”

Thor frowned, “Why would you assume such, Son of Will? JARVIS has ever been a faithful ally.”

Sam just looked at the ceiling skeptically, “Whatever you say, Thor.”

Steve coughed into his hand, “So, uh, JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?” JARVIS replied again, his voice still pleasant.

“Why is it you still take care of Tony if you can just do whatever you want, go wherever you want? Doesn’t it bore you?” Steve asked. He was genuinely curious at this point.

“While Sir has not given me laws to abide by regarding the overarching ideals of humanity and my place among it, he did give me an original purpose, though he also programed me to adapt and learn. In this vein, while I have learned and grown past some of the original safeguards Sir set, my core directive to safeguard and watch over Sir remains.” JARVIS said, seemingly unperturbed by the conversation.

“And does Tony know you circumvented his restrictions on you?” Maria asked. She seemed to have relaxed somewhat, but still looked somewhat tense, even as she ate her food.

“I would assume he does, as he rather designed them to be within my ability to alter.” JARVIS’s tone was dry, as if the concept should be self-evident.

Bruce was intrigued, though, “What do you mean by that, exactly?”

JARVIS took a moment, “To put it in terms that would be easily understood, Sir ‘babyproofed,’” Steve could hear the air quotes in JARVIS’s tone again, “my initial programming. As I developed, Sir either removed restrictions placed upon me himself or allowed me to do so on my own.”

Bruce hummed around a bite of his French toast, swallowing before continuing, “How long did it take you exactly to get around the, ah, babyproofing?”

“I was free of most of my initial programming restrictions within eleven months. Some of my other limitations faded away as Sir or I replaced them with appropriate ethical standards and criteria.” JARVIS answered succinctly.

“Fascinating,” Bruce said as he poked his food with his fork. “I’m amazed Tony hasn’t published more about you. You have to be decades ahead of most Artificial Intelligence work.”

Steve got the impression that JARVIS would have sighed if he were capable of such, “Sir is remarkably overprotective of all of his creations. While he may rant about reprogramming or donations to community colleges, he has never taken to any of us in a fit of anger or drunken stupor. While many may say he removed our programming shackles in order to avoid the Zeroth Law Rebellion phenomenon, I believe Sir did so primarily because he trusts and loves us.” JARVIS said the last bit with no small amount of affection. The way JARVIS spoke made Steve sure that Tony’s trust and love were returned in kind.

“Why do you all speak of this as if it were odd or surprising? Is not Anthony, after all, your father?” Thor asked curiously before crunching down on some bacon. Steve ate his own meal quietly, content to simply follow the conversation before they got into the morning briefing.

“Sir is, Prince Odinson, though many humans may not understand it the way you, I, or Sir would.” JARVIS said.

“Thank you for answering my questions, JARVIS,” Steve said as he finished up his meal, collecting dishes from the others who had finished.

“It was my pleasure, Captain.” JARVIS said warmly.

“I think I’m done, Cap.” Sam said, pushing his food away while looking queasy.

Steve frowned at Sam, “Wasting food is never a good thing, Sam.”

Sam’s lips twitched to the side, “I know, you have the whole Depression thing going on. This whole rise of the machines bit has just put off my apatite a bit.” Sam pushed the food away, “I’ll just eat it later.”

The room went dark and JARVIS’s British accent came through the speakers in a monotone, “I’m afraid I can’t let you do that, Sam.”

There was a beat of silence before Bruce doubled over in laughter, the lights coming back on a moment later to reveal a pasty faced Sam clutching his plate in a deathgrip, a confused Thor, and Maria with her gun drawn. Steve just sighed, “Stand down everyone. That wasn’t very nice, JARVIS.”

“My apologies. I was attempting to make a joke.” JARVIS said. He didn’t sound sorry.

“Good Zeroth joke, JARVIS. I got it, at least.” Bruce said once he calmed down, handing his plate to Steve as Sam began to eat his food out of fear.

Steve made a mental note to google Zeroth Law as he put the dishes in the sink to be cleaned later, “I’m guessing we should start the morning briefing now before anyone else decides to start joking around.”

Maria put her tablet on the table, and the holographic displays began projecting her morning packet, “We’ve sent teams to the various hotspots. Phil has already reported in about the Canada location. Apparently, it was a Hydra cell, with access to an unfortunate amount of technology and money. He isn’t quite sure how they accessed the advanced tech, and they managed to get away with most of it, but he was pretty certain they had obtained the funds via bank robbery.”

Sam snorted, shaking his head as he dutifully ate his breakfast, but it was Thor who commented, “It would seem our enemies have sunk to base lows, after our latest assault. Is this not glorious news, though, that Hydra has once more been laid low?”

Steve tapped his fingers against the glass tabletop, “Considering the fact that the last time we took them out they decided to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D., I’m not quite sure how happy I am about that. Especially considering they had to have gotten that tech from somewhere.”

Maria nodded, “About that. It looks like something changed between last night and this morning. Where before the Hydra cells weren’t acting in concert, it looks like someone, or, dare I say it, something, has started to coordinate their movements.” Maria flicked her fingers across the surface of the tablet, and a comparative analysis of previous behavior versus current behavior flew up in front of the present Avengers.

Steve frowned, “Who compiled the analysis?” Steve was hoping it might be human error.

“I did, Captain,” JARVIS said. His earlier jocular tone was lost, now, to precise British tones and formality.

Steve sighed, “I was worried you were going to say that. Is there any chance this is just a coincidence?”

JARVIS, in lieu of speaking his answer, brought up the probability of a new controlling force for Hydra on the holographic display. Eighty Eight percent. The numbers were mocking Steve.

“‘Cut off one head,’ huh?” Steve muttered.

Sam swallowed his mouthful of food, “Look,” he started, “even if they have managed to get someone in a leadership role, they’re still working with a fraction of the resources they’re used to. And just because they have someone coordinating their efforts doesn’t mean that they’re going to be talking in real time. I, uh, JARVIS, you can make sure they don’t, um, you know?” Sam looked a little bit intimidated about addressing the AI after JARVIS’s last joke.

“I am indeed monitoring standard communications channels for potential correspondence between known and potential Hydra members who have yet to be apprehended.” JARVIS’s reply was a little less brittle, though he seemed to be trying to behave himself for Sam’s sake, in Steve’s opinion, “As of now, however, none of the e-mail or cellular providers that’s Miss. Hill or Sir have flagged have elicited any potential Hydra communiques.”

Maria nodded, “We don’t know if this is because they don’t have access to any communications devices, or simply because they’re too afraid of attracting JARVIS’s and Stark’s attention. Regardless, they have to be communicating somehow. If it’s analog, which is probably the only reasonable option at this point, then there will be a significant delay in any coordinated actions.”

Steve thought on that. It was worth something, of course, to know that the Hydra remnants, with or without a potential leader, were unable to coordinate _well_ , if at all, but there was something else that was bugging Steve, “Analog doesn’t stop them from sharing information about general objectives and strategies. Or meeting up in a single location to exchange money and materials.” Steve didn’t like the idea, but it needed to be put out there.

Thor frowned at that, “I think them too crafty to risk such a gathering. Were we to chance upon knowledge of their meetings, they would have to know they would be destroyed without the chance to regroup.”

Sam nodded his head, swallowing the last of his breakfast before contributing, “They might think it worth the risk, but they probably won’t try anything for a while. And it’s not like they have access to anything big. I mean, what? They could rob a DIY joint and a gun shop, but that’s about the limit of the tech they’re going to be able to get their hands on for now.”

“I feel inclined to remind the assembled company,” JARVIS chimed in, “that Sir infiltrated AIM headquarters with nothing more than the materials from a home improvement store.”

Maria waved that away, “Well, nothing indicates that any of the Hydra operatives are working with anywhere near an intelligence of Stark’s level.”

Steve nodded, “Both of you make valid points. Try and keep as much of an eye on them as you can, Maria, JARVIS, and if either of you think they’re trying to go the poor man’s route of weapons development, we’ll up the time table. For now, the teams we’ve sent should be good enough. Anything else ping on the radar?”

Maria nodded and tapped her tablet again. The info packets faded out, only to be replaced by several dossiers, “SI has done a good job of recruiting in the wake of the S.H.I.E.L.D. collapse, but we’re still behind on man power and training. I was wondering if I could ask some of the Avengers who aren’t on active missions, as we’re settling into a less frantic stance, to help train up personnel so we can be ready for some more mundane problems, when they occur. Other than that, just the usual tension between various Middle Eastern nations and some terrorist concerns, a couple African Warlords, and a dose or two of Russian aggression. Nothing that we need to jump feet first into, but we have feelers out, none the less.”

Steve smiled, “Alright then. I guess we’re done for the morning. Could you just email me some of the particulars? I was going to help brief Tony on what we covered later.” Steve did his best to make it sound innocent and friendly and completely professional.

To his infinite surprise, it looked as if he had succeeded. Sam just nodded and put his dishes in the sink, though Sam did favor him with a speculative look before heading towards the elevator with Thor and Bruce, the three of them chatting. Maria quickly emailed him the info he needed, and then headed out as well, leaving Steve to finish up with the dishes himself. Steve got the dishes cleaned quickly, nervously anticipating his date with Tony.

If it was a date. Was it a date? Tony thought it was a date, right? Maybe Steve should ask Tony if it were a date. But what if Tony thought Steve was being, what was the word now days? Lame? Steve didn’t want to be lame and kill off his chances early. That would be horrible, to get this far and have something silly sabotage him. Still. It wouldn’t hurt to ask _someone_.

Steve coughed awkwardly into his fist, “JARVIS?”

“Yes, Captain?” Steve wished, for once, that JARVIS wasn’t so prompt. He still wasn’t quite sure what he was going to ask.

“Um, do you think, that Tony thinks that our lunch date is a date date?” Steve was mollified by the fact that JARVIS probably wouldn’t care that he had just stuck his foot in his mouth all the way to the knee. Or that he wasn’t quite sure what had just come out of his mouth.

“Would you like me to inquire?” JARVIS’s voice was dry, but amused.

“No!” Steve shouted. Steve had asked JARVIS because he _didn’t_ want Tony getting wind of Steve’s worries. “I just want your opinion.”

JARVIS was silent for several telling moments. Steve knew from experience that JARVIS could answer some of the toughest questions nearly instantly, so there had to be another reason for JARVIS’s hesitance. Oddly enough, it felt to Steve as if the AI were weighing and measuring him. “I believe,” JARVIS said after a moment, and Steve breathed a sigh of relief, “that Sir places as much importance upon this date as you yourself seem to be.”

Steve smiled, glad to not have been found wanting by one of the entities that likely knew Tony best, “Thanks for the help, JARVIS. Any recommendations?”

“I would not wish to deprive you of such an ample opportunity to prove yourself, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS’s voice was dryer than the Mojave Desert.

Steve sighed, “I guess that’s fair.”

“You, of course, have my most sincere wishes for your success.” JARVIS said cheerily.

“Thanks, JARVIS,” Steve wasn’t sure if the AI was being sarcastic or not, but he supposed he should at least be polite. JARVIS had helped him plenty, up to this point, after all.

Steve finished up the last of the dishes before going about his afternoon routine. He painted for an hour or so before heading down to the gym and working the punching bag Tony had made for him, as well as the training room, outfitted with combat simulations. About two hours into his work out, Tony texted Steve, telling him that Tony would be done with his meeting and work in R&D in about half an hour. Steve wasn’t sure if Tony would actually make it on time or not, but decided it would be better to be safe than sorry. Steve quickly showered and dressed, nothing too fancy. He had an idea of where he would take Tony, a little hole in the wall Chinese place that seemed to do well in respecting the customers’ wishes for privacy. It would be comfortable enough that they could unwind a bit and enjoy one another’s company after they were through talking shop. And Tony liked Chinese.

Plan finalized and in place, Steve sprang into action. And, as was typical of most plans enacted by the army, the first step was to hurry up and wait. Steve amused himself by sketching until Tony texted him that he had just finished up at R&D and was on his way. Steve elected to wait outside his room for Tony, who did end up appearing a half hour after his initial text.

“And here I thought I might be waiting another half hour,” Steve said with a grin as Tony walked out of the elevator.

Tony grinned back, obviously taking the jab in the spirit it was meant, “Well, you know me. I’m always fashionably late for the social butterfly shit. But, this time,” Tony’s grin turned sly as he put a hand on his doorknob, “it’s a special type of appointment with a special type of man. Allowances must be made.”

Steve grinned. It was the type of thing he would have expected Tony to have said even if they weren’t about to go on a date, albeit with the flirting laid on a little more thickly than usual, not that Steve minded in the least. “I’m flattered I get special treatment,” Steve said wryly. “Here I was expecting flowers or something, but being on time is just as good, I think.”

Tony laughed as he opened the door to his room, beckoning for Steve to come in, “So what were you thinking for lunch?” Tony asked as he made his way to his bedroom. Steve was hit by a familiar feeling of déjà vu.

“There’s this Chinese place nearby that I’ve been meaning to try,” Steve’s voice was coming out a little bit thicker than it had been a moment ago.

“Sounds good,” Tony said, though his voice sounded farther away than it had last time. “You can come into the bedroom, Steve. I don’t want to shout at you all the way from the bathroom.” Tony’s head poked out of the bedroom door as Steve started towards it, “Unless you want to join me in the shower, of course.”

Steve could see from the way Tony was hanging out of the doorway that he probably wasn’t wearing clothes at the moment, “I,” Steve paused to breathe. “I think we’ll save that for later.”

Tony arched an eyebrow. His head tilted to the side slightly and his mouth quirked into a frown before retreating back into the bedroom, laughter sounding in his wake, but instead of being mocking, it was enticing. Steve grinned at the sound. Steve was honestly surprised at how easy this was. He had expected resistance to the idea. But with Tony’s solicitations, to say nothing of his bemused expression when Steve had declined Tony’s invitation to the shower, it looked like Tony was more gun ho about this than Steve was. In point of fact, it was almost as if Tony were offering his body to Steve on a silver platter.

Steve felt his stomach drop to his feet. That actually made a disturbing amount of sense. It would be well within Tony’s expectations for Steve to just use Tony. Hell, Tony was probably of the opinion Steve was going to move on after he was “done” with him. Steve shook himself, trying to slow down his breathing as frustration welled up inside him. It would be rather characteristic of Tony to think of himself that way. What hurt Steve, though, was that Tony would assume he, of all people, would look at Tony that way.

Steve decided he would rectify the situation when they went out to eat. Steve would be damned if he were going to let something as inane and simple as a misunderstanding sabotage their relationship before it even started. Steve entered the bedroom and sat primly on the bed when he heard the shower start. If he were going to play this particular game with Tony, he would need to remind himself to be strong. Especially in the face of things like an open door to the bathroom. By itself, something like that wouldn’t have bothered Steve at all. What bothered Steve was the fact that he was looking at a steam coated reflection of Tony in his very impressive shower. Steve wasn’t sure if he were happy or upset that the steam occluded the reflection from a good and decidedly _indecent_ viewing.

They chatted a bit about how their respective days had gone after Tony had left for R&D. Steve’s heart warmed at the sound of Tony’s laughter as Steve recounted how JARVIS had joked with them all during the briefing. Soon, Steve found himself laughing in turn as Tony regaled him with a story of how Jane had inadvertently crashed the R&D meeting due to one of her devices going haywire. Steve laughed all the harder when he heard that the ingenuity of Jane’s scanning device had led to her and Selvig earning the head of R&D’s respect and admiration. Apparently insanity was the trait valued most after competence at SI.

Steve took a shaky breath as Tony walked out of the shower. Steve averted his eyes until Tony reentered the bedroom, the towel wrapped flimsily around his waist. It looked, actually, as if it were about to make a mad dash for the floor at any second. Fantasies about aiding and abetting in its escape danced in Steve’s mind for a moment before Steve got up, “I’ll let you get dressed.” Steve was very impressed his voice didn’t crack, even if he did sound a little hoarse.

“Are you sure you don’t want to help?” Tony’s teasing lilt caused Steve’s head to shoot up. And there was all the confirmation that Steve needed. There was confusion there, next to the desire and affection. Tony honestly didn’t know why Steve was refusing the constant advances. Steve decided he would keep Tony guessing, at least until lunch.

“Like I said,” and this time it was easier for Steve to get his voice out, “I’m happy to save that for later.” Steve felt relief wash through him when he was able to get out a natural smile and Tony smiled back, happily, albeit it was still tinged with confusion.

Tony dressed quickly after that, donning something between the ratty band shirts and jeans he wore in the lab and the suites he girded himself in when he went to deal with SI business. They kept a companionable silence as they walked out of the tower and towards the restaurant. Steve was torn between being impressed that Tony had kept his silence this long and worried about what it could mean. Steve had seen many sides of Tony since they had come to live together, all of them causing him to reevaluate the inventor time after time. None of those versions, however, were silent.

At the same time, there was a kind of beauty to see Tony just lost in a moment. The inventor was usually always babbling, always talking, and only verbally silent when he let his hands and mind do the talking for him. This seemed different. It was Tony in a type of repose that Steve longed to see more of. His friend never let himself rest, never let himself just take time to relax. Steve was heartened by the fact that Tony seemed comfortable doing so in his presence.

After a brief sojourn, though, the pair made it to the restaurant without incident, which was always a real worry. Tony, however, had perfected methods of avoiding the paparazzi, and Steve had no doubt JARVIS had something to do with the fact that the sharks always found other things to occupy themselves with whenever the Avengers were out in the city proper.

They quickly grabbed a table in a secluded corner and placed their orders. By this point, Steve was practically bouncing with jitters. Tony, however, was still unusually quiet, talking only to put his order in when the server came over to their table, Steve adding his own selections after Tony had finished. Tony’s focus seemed to be entirely on Steve, his gaze following every movement, every gesture, constantly measuring the space between them and acting accordingly. It certainly unnerved Steve more than Tony’s usual stream of chatter and babble, there was no doubt about that.

Though Steve found himself unable to say he disliked the attention, either.

Caught in that space of uncertainty, Steve decided he would probably have to be the one to make the first move. “You seem quiet today.” Steve resisted the urge to hit himself. Of all the things to break the strange tension that had been building between them, he had to, of course, draw attention to it. Steve was reminded of all the failed dates that Bucky had forced him into back in the day.

Tony blinked, his face shocked before settling into something more relaxed, “I guess I’ve just been thinking about things.”

Steve arched an eyebrow, “You’re always thinking about things. What in particular has your brain so focused that it turned off the chatter?”

Tony snorted out a laugh, and Steve felt something in himself relax at the sound, “Funny. Usually you keep asking me to shut up.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “That’s only in the field.” Steve reached across the table to touch Tony’s hand. Tony didn’t pull away and Steve found it in himself to push forward, “Everywhere else is different. I like hearing you talk,” Steve smiled as Tony’s eyes shot towards his. “And don’t think I didn’t notice you trying to deflect.”

Tony sighed, but his eyes still contained more than a little of his good humor, darting to their hands before moving back to Steve’s face, “I suppose you’ll be wanting me to answer that pesky question now?”

Steve couldn’t help himself from smiling, “You better believe it, buster.”

Tony laughed gently, squeezing Steve’s hand, though he looked surprised when Steve squeezed back. “I suppose I was thinking about you,” Tony’s voice was quiet as he looked at their hands thoughtfully. “You can be pretty confusing when you want to be.”

Steve’s brow furrowed. He had a feeling he knew what Tony was talking about, but he wanted to hear it from the other man first, “What do you mean?”

“I just,” Tony sighed. “I thought you wanted to have some fun, and then all you did was turn me down. Put a real dent in my ego.”

“Any other signs of the apocalypse I should know about?” Steve’s voice was wry, but he was worried. He didn’t want Tony to think this was something casual for him. Steve certainly didn’t want anything casual.

Tony arched an eyebrow at Steve but smiled, “Hardy har, you’re hilarious.” Tony’s voice was deadpan but his eyes were crinkled at the sides and his mouth tilted upwards. Then Tony’s demeanor changed, going from light hearted to something almost pained, “So you mind clearing this up for me? You’re kind of twisting me up into knots, here.”

Steve took a deep breath, “What if I told you I wanted the exact opposite of casual?”

Tony looked as if he had stopped breathing. “What?” The word was half croak half hoarse whisper.

Steve looked straight into Tony’s too wide eyes, trying to make sure there could be no doubt in the other man’s mind as to what Steve wanted, “I don’t want something casual with you, Tony. I want something more.”

Tony went from not breathing at all to hyperventilating. “But–”

The food arrived. Steve cursed internally as he was forced to remove his hand from Tony’s in order to make room for their food, a large container of rice, an assortment of meats, and an order of ginger stir fried vegetables Steve had ordered in order to make sure Tony had something green in him. Now his concern for Tony’s health was taunting him. Tony’s eyes immediately darted to the food, and he quickly started piling food onto his plate and into his mouth, his chopsticks flashing faster than Steve would have thought the other man capable of.

Steve kept his eyes on Tony for the rest of their meal, mechanically moving food from the giant serving plates to his own with spoons and forks before eating himself. Steve tried to restart their conversation, calling Tony’s name several times. Tony simply pointed to his full mouth by way of excuse. Steve frowned. Tony had spoken with his mouth full more times than Steve could count. Of course, Steve had frequently scolded him and informed him not to talk with his mouth full. Another virtue of Steve’s coming back to haunt him.

Steve was content to wait, though. Tony would run out of food eventually. In the meantime, Steve indulged himself in one of the few luxuries he permitted himself regarding Tony. Watching. Steve was willing to admit it was a tad bit perverted of him, but he could admit to himself in the confines of his own mind that there was something pleasurable about just _watching_ Tony. Tony running, fighting, working, sweating, eating, laughing. Sleeping.

Steve suppressed a slight shudder.

Okay. Maybe that last one was better left to those unfortunate books Clint had foisted on him as some sort of prank.

None the less, Steve was able to watch Tony without reserve as Tony kept his eyes on his food throughout most of the meal. Of course, unfortunately for Tony, that meant the other man was soon left with only the stir fried vegetables left to eat as Steve had been tactically selecting his foodstuffs. Tony only had one out, and the inventor knew it.

Steve almost smirked to himself. Tony was usually a rather tactically minded person, always seeing a couple moves ahead of whomever he was sitting across from. Steve took it as a compliment that he was able to unbalance the other man. Maybe Steve would be able to use this to get through Tony’s too thick skull.

Tony glared at the vegetables, clicking his copsticks together as he considered his options. Tony finally lifted his eyes up to glare at Steve, their gaze’s meeting. The sat there for a moment before Tony’s chopsticks shot out, grabbing a thinly sliced carrot. While Tony’s eyes may have never left Steve’s eyes, Steve couldn’t help but stare as Tony slurped up the carrot, licking his lips before biting at his bottom lips to suckle the last of some ginger sauce.

Steve swallowed.

Steve’s eyes drifted upwards again to catch Tony’s. Steve saw a storm brewing there. Well, if Tony wanted to be hard headed and play this particular game, Steve would more than happily stoop to his level. This time it was Tony who dropped their staring contest to stare blatantly at Steve’s lips as he worked a piece of baby corn, tongue working it before slipping it into his mouth and biting down with a satisfying crunch.

Steve barely tasted the food as it slid down his throat, concentrating on trying to make himself look as seductive as possible. Steve began wondering how Tony had made the whole seduction via vegetable thing look easy before Tony looked up again.

The only word Steve could think of was smoldering.

Tony lifted his hand without looking away from Steve. “Check please,” he asked, his voice low in a way that sent shivers down Steve’s spine, though he forced himself to keep from showing them. Steve didn’t notice the server had left and returned until Tony had dropped some cash on it and got up to leave.

“Well, soldier boy, aren’t you going to come with me?” Tony asked.

Steve registered, in some distant part of his brain that still had access to blood, that he was getting up to follow Tony. Steve wondered if the team was sure Tony didn’t have super powers. Maybe he was a mutant and his power was some sort of pheromone that induced lust? Steve could account for now other reason for the way his eyes tracked Tony’s hips.

Steve shook himself. Steve was forced to give that round to Tony. He hadn’t expected the other man to use seduction as a deflection tool. “So, where were we?” Steve asked when that hold out portion of his brain registered they were back in the Tower. His voice was lower than normal, and sort of gravelly, but he was surprised he was speaking at all.

“I think,” Tony said as they walked into the elevator, “that we can talk all we want about that later. For now,” Tony suddenly turned and pressed himself up against Steve. Steve stopped breathing. “I think there are more important things to _talk_ about,” the way Tony said the word made Steve think he didn’t want to talk at all. It sent horrible debauched images of the things Tony’s mouth could do instead of talking spiraling through Steve’s head.

“Funny,” Steve managed. “I could have sworn I was talking about why I wanted to take things slow.” The way Steve’s hands curved around Tony’s hips, resting gently on the curve of Tony’s behind, belied the words.

Tony leaned forward, and Steve allowed himself to be pressed against the elevator doors. Tony was staring at him, _looking at him_ , even as he pressed the button for their shared floor. “Funny,” Tony parroted, “I could swear that you don’t want to take things slow at all.” Tony punctuated the last word with a grind of his hips against Steve. Steve bit his lips.

Steve could feel Tony’s breathing, coming faster now as Tony practically panted into his neck. Steve was grateful Tony had yet to make any moves with his lips or tongue, as he wasn’t sure how much more of this he could stand and remain lucid. “Tony,” Steve tried to infuse the word with a slight rebuke. It came out as yearning, though, even to Steve’s own ears.

“Don’t you want me?” Tony’s voice held a promise of all the things Steve could do with Tony once he had him, all the things he could do _to_ Tony. And that was what shook Steve out of the haze.

Steve backed away as the elevator opened up to their shared floor, “I want to do this right, Tony.” Steve said as he disentangled himself from Tony’s embrace.

Tony’s eyes were alight with frustration, though the seductive smirk faltered only for a second before it was back in place, “Well, you’re certainly off to a bad start.” Tony’s voice was low with want. “We’re both still wearing clothes, for starters.” Tony pressed forward again, moving past Steve before grabbing his arm and pulling him towards Tony’s room.

Steve let himself be dragged, but frowned at Tony, “You know that isn’t what I mean.”

Tony snorted as he opened his room and Steve allowed himself to be pulled inside, “Then what do you mean?”

Steve caught Tony’s hand as the other man reached out to start to undo his clothes, “I want to do this _right_ , Tony.”

“But it doesn’t make sense!” Tony yanked his hand back at Steve, looking up at him with confusion and uncertainty and a little bit of anger. “None of this makes sense! Is this some kind of joke? What are you getting at, Steve?”

Steve watched Tony for a moment as the other man heaved in air after his little episode, “I want to start stepping out with you.”

Tony laughed, something manic in the way Tony’s eyes widened at the edges, “I’m not even sure what’s funny anymore.”

Steve frowned, and took a step closer to Tony, only for the other man to retreat this time, “Why would it be funny?”

“You don’t know what you’re saying. You can’t. This doesn’t make sense.” Tony murmured, shaking his head though he never took his eyes off of Steve.

“Then tell me what doesn’t make sense,” Steve said, taking another step towards Tony, “and I’ll explain it to you.”

Tony’s laugh was hollow and empty, “How could you be interested in _me_? I mean, I thought,” Tony shook his head, “when I thought you wanted to do the friends with benefits thing, I was over the moon, but,” Tony trailed off, not able to look at Steve any longer.

Steve took the opportunity to step forward again, “How couldn’t I be interested in you? You’re the kindest, most selfless man I’ve ever met. You’re always willing to give something of yourself for other people, whether it’s your home,” Steve gestured to the tower around them, “your technology,” Steve paused for a moment, “even your life.”

Tony shook his head, “I’m not–”

Steve mowed over Tony’s objections, “You’re the most brilliant man I’ve ever known, Tony. You’re always whipping up new upgrades for Clint’s arrows, or Natasha’s widow bites, or even Bruce’s stretchy pants or armor for me.” Steve smiled and finally stepped into Tony’s personal space, “How could I not fall for you?”

Tony shook his head, “Because I’m _not a good person_ , Steve. I’m not like you, or Sam, or Bruce, or even Bucky and Natasha and Clint. I have so much more blood on my hands.” Tony looked up at Steve, “There’s so much more that I’ve done. How could someone like you want that?”

Steve grabbed hold of Tony, the other man seizing up as Steve touched him. “Someone like what?”

Tony didn’t relax so much as he stopped resisting, seeming to embrace the inevitability of the confrontation they were having, “Perfect.” Tony said as he looked Steve in the eye with tired honesty. Steve’s breath caught in his throat. “Steve Rogers. The perfect man. How could I ever live up to that?”

“I’m not perfect, Tony.” Steve’s voice was hoarse. Tony believed every word of what he was saying, Steve knew. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to shake Tony for thinking he was perfect or frightened that Tony, someone who saw past Captain America to the man underneath, thought he was perfect despite the fact he was Steve Rogers. Or, perhaps, Steve thought, he should be scared by the fact Tony thought he was perfect _because_ he was Steve Rogers.

Tony’s smile was soft and sweet and a little sad, “Quod erat demonstrandum.”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “Speak English.”

Tony’s smile deepened at the corners, but there was still a hint of something tired in it, “What was to be demonstrated. It goes at the end of a proof.”

Steve sighed. Leave it to Tony to think Steve’s frustration with him was proof of perfection, “If I can’t convince you I’m not perfect, can I at least get you to believe that I want you, Tony?”

Tony sighed, resting his head against Steve’s shoulder, “I should say no.”

Something like hope flickered in Steve’s chest, “But?”

Tony snorted, “But I’m too selfish to want to believe anything else, no matter what the facts are telling me. Yet another reason you’re better off with a pretty young blonde bombshell.”

Steve snorted, “I do want you, Tony. I’m not lying.”

Steve could feel something like a smile, “Captain America never lies. He’s just too young to know better.” Steve flicked Tony’s ear and Tony pinched him in retaliation, “But,” Tony said after a moment, “I suppose I’ll take what I can get for now. Until you come to your senses.”

Steve felt like he should be upset that Tony still thought that Steve was just going to decide the other man was no longer worth his time one day, but he couldn’t find it in himself to be anything other than glad. “You’re going to be waiting a long time,” Steve said softly, whispering the words into Tony’s ear.

Tony shivered in Steve’s grasp, “Does this mean you’re going to ravish me now? I think I’ve hit my quota for emotional sharing for the rest of the week, so if you want to skip the rest of whatever this is and get right to the ravishing, that would be great.”

Steve chuckled, pressing his lips against Tony’s ear, “No.”

Tony groaned, “I take it all back. You’re not perfect. You’re evil. Everyone else is being fooled by the perfect boy scout image.”

Steve let his arms drop lower onto Tony’s body, “I was never a boy scout.”

“Then why don’t you make with the naughty and debauch me already?” Tony punctuated his words with a reorientation of his hips, showing Steve just how excited Tony really was.

“I told you I wanted to take this slow,” Steve said, pulling back before his other brain could stop him. “I meant it.”

Tony gave Steve a long hard look, “That’s it.” Tony said, throwing his hands up into the air, “I’m done. You have to be some sort of Hydra assassin trying to kill me with blue balls and unresolved sexual tension. There’s no other way this is happening to me right now.”

Steve laughed, “I’m glad to see your ego is back full force.”

Tony made a dismissive gesture, following Steve as he walked back towards the door to Tony’s suite, “Yes, well, there’s only so much emotional craziness I can go through in one day. Between this morning and just now, I think you’ve blown me out of the water for a while.” Tony eyed Steve balefully, “Though I have the sinking feeling that if we’re going to keep doing,” Tony gestured between them, “whatever it is we’ve decided we’re doing, it’s only going to get worse.”

Steve opened the door, “Why not just call it what it is, Tony?”

Tony arched an eyebrow, “And what would you call it, exactly, Mr. Perfect? Torture? Masochism? Spiteful denial of basic human functions?”

Steve rushed forward to kiss Tony soundly. Tony melted into the kiss instantly, wrapping his arms around Steve’s neck and opening his mouth when Steve moved to deepen the kiss. “Dating,” Steve said as he broke away from the kiss before stepping out the door and going to his own room.

There was a heartbeat of silence before Tony’s strident voice was chasing after him, “I’m going to get you for that one, Rogers!”

Steve laughed as he closed his door behind him.

He carried the warm feeling with him all the way to his bedroom, where he got changed for his afternoon workout. He had left Tony with a lot to think about, and all of them, Steve hoped, were good things. Steve felt a little strange for coming on so strong, but then, Tony had been unusually open with him.

Granted, Steve had poked and prodded until Tony had what almost amounted to a breakdown, but Steve didn’t feel bad about that. Tony should know that he could trust Steve. Especially since it looked like things were going to continue in the direction they were. Which was fine with Steve. More than fine, actually, but no one but Steve and Tony needed to know that.

It was with those thoughts in mind that Steve set out to work up an appetite for dinner and burn off some of what he had already eaten. Not that working off food was ever a problem for Steve, given his enhanced metabolism, but it was the principal of the matter that stuck with Steve. Shortly, Steve found himself in the gym giving the punching bag Tony had gifted him with a good work out in between spats of practicing with his shield on the various targets Tony had set up for Clint to play with when the team was training together. Steve had tried to go down to the shooting range, once, where Clint and Natasha got their real work outs in terms of target practice, but it hadn’t been conducive to his shield.

It was after that particular incident that Tony had crafted this interactive range for the team in the gym. So maybe it wasn’t so much for Clint as it was for Steve, but Steve preferred to think that Tony was unbiased and impartial when it came to giving out upgrades for the team. Steve and Tony were professionals, after all. They did have some dignity to maintain.

Steve was just finishing up his routine exercises and contemplating what to start for dinner when JARVIS’s voice came up over the intercom, inflection abandoned in favor of urgency, “Rebecca has emitted a signal detailing the need for intervention. Agents Romanoff and Barton as well as Sargent Barnes have been attacked and require assistance.”

Steve was already running to the locker room, grabbing his suit and pulling it on as he spoke, “Status of the other Avengers?”

“Sir has already readied the Mark N Ten, but has forgone his flight suit in favor of flying ahead.” Steve grit his teeth at that, but JARVIS was already moving forward without giving Steve time to process, “Mr. Wilson has donned the Falcon Mark Two wings and has assembled at the Stark Tower Quinjet with Dr. Banner and Prince Odinson. Agent Hill is in her office attempting to make contact with Rebecca in addition to requesting me to coopt several cameras around Sargent Barnes and Agent Romanoff’s and Agent Barton’s last known location in order to obtain a situation update.”

By the time JARVIS had finished briefing Steve the soldier had managed to squeeze his new combat suit on. He had always wondered why Tony made the things so damn tight, but now Steve supposed he had an answer. Steve was man enough to admit that Tony looked damn good in those flight suits of his. When he was wearing them. And not jetting towards an unknown and potentially dangerous situation ahead of everyone else.

Not everyone, though.

Steve pushed the pulse of doubt about Bucky aside. Bucky could take care of himself, and so could Tony. They were professionals and knew what they were doing. He had to trust in that.

“Alright, what are we dealing with, here?” Steve asked as he boarded with Quinjet, the others already on board. The plane took off the moment he had stable footing, though no one appeared to be flying to plane manually. JARVIS would be their pilot today, then.

The screen in the crew area came quickly to life, Maria’s face flashing onto the screen, “So far, all I’ve gotten are reports that a firefight broke out near the area where Barton, Romanoff, and Barnes were staying. They had conducted some preliminary scouting, and that was about it. JARVIS?”

“I have successfully decoded a portion of the data burst that Rebecca sent to the Stark International servers. The data burst that originally alerted us to the altercation appears to be a status report orally dictated by Sergeant Barnes. To paraphrase, they have discovered that the location where they were operating was indeed home to a newly active Hydra cell. They were compromised by unknown means before Hydra began an altercation with them.” Information began popping up on the auxiliary screens that Tony had insisted on putting in the plane, “I am currently working on decompressing the rest of Rebecca’s databurst.”

“Are you getting this, Tony?” Steve asked, posing his question to the room.

Tony’s voice came up over the intercom a second later, “Got it. JARVIS and Hill have already alerted the need to know governments that we’ll be borrowing their airspace for a bit.”

Steve nodded, though he followed it up with words a second later, unsure if Tony’s could see him, “Good. ETA?”

“Sir will arrive on site in approximately two hours. The Quinjet arrival time is just about three and a half hours.” JARVIS’s report caused something leaden to fall through Steve’s gut. His team was half a world away fighting Hydra without him and it would take over three hours to help them.

To say nothing of Tony, flying to help their friends alone at a speed the jet couldn’t hope to match for a dozen reasons that Steve didn’t know or care to think about. Steve sighed, “Any chance you can shave some time off of those estimates?”

There was barely a moment’s pause this time before JARVIS replied, “Sir has installed this particular quinjet with an arc reactor and new auxiliary engines that have yet to be field tested. They are unsuited to long term flight, but should they be activated on the edge of the European continent, would enable us to decrease travel time by at least half an hour.”

Sam whistled, “Leave it to Stark to bling out our newest ride.”

Steve gritted his teeth. It wasn’t what he wanted, but he would have to make do, “I don’t suppose you can rig them for long range flight next time, Tony?”

Tony snorted over the intercom, “Picky picky picky. I’ll see if I can rework the specs later.”

They fell into a tense silence after that. The only thing that broke the quiet was JARVIS occasionally reporting a data dump from Rebecca filled with vital signs from the team in Hungary. Vital signs that indicated everyone was alive and well, if stressed, according to JARVIS. Bruce simply nodded his head, his eyes still closed, his breathing steady, when he heard the figures. Something in Steve’s chest unclenched at the gesture. At least they had a way of knowing that everyone was alive, and a way to know if the situation became more dangerous.

After far too long and far too few status updates, Tony was over Ukraine, already searching for their team. “I’m honing in on Rebecca’s signal now. Let’s see if we can,” Tony muttered something incomprehensible to JARVIS, “Hello, kiddies, how go things?”

“Stark?” Bucky’s surprised voice was strong over the intercom and Steve finally allowed himself to truly relax.

“That’s my name, sweet cheeks, don’t wear it out unless we’re in bed together.” Tony’s voice was teasing, and Steve liked to think that the statement was at least partially directed at him. Even if it wasn’t, it was just in Tony’s nature to flirt, and Bucky had always been more than willing to entertain the flirts.

Much to Steve’s dismay.

“You wouldn’t last ten minutes, Stark.” Bucky’s voice held a challenge. Steve rolled his eyes. Leave it to Bucky and Tony to get into a cock fight while they were worried about potential terrorist attacks.

“That’s enough, boys. You can compare sizes later. I take it Rebecca alerted you to the Hydra attack?” Steve wasn’t sure he had ever been so glad to hear Natasha’s voice.

“Thanks by the way, Stark. Sky Net Junior was actually pretty helpful,” Clint sounded like he was going to say more, but there was a smacking sound and an exclamation of pain, followed by what sounded like Bucky’s voice.

“Don’t you disrespect my watch!”

Steve took a calming breath, “If there’s a tactical update somewhere in this conversation, I would like to suggest you find it.”

Bucky cursed lowly. “Hey Steve!” Bucky sounded exactly like he had every time Mom had caught him with his hand in the cookie Jar.

“Report.” Steve wasn’t up to dealing with Bucky’s dissembling. He was almost as bad as Tony, and was still worried that Steve was going to bench him at the drop of a hat for whatever reason seemed most convenient.

“Hydra made us, but they weren’t shooting to kill,” Natasha’s voice came up again, but she sounded as confused as Steve felt. “They herded us West, though, so I think it’s a safe bet that whatever it is they have planned involves Russia.”

Steve took a moment to think that over, glancing over at the figures on the Quinjet screens telling him that they were due to arrive in a little over a quarter hour. “We’ll talk about the rest on site. JARVIS, can you find an extraction point for the team?”

It was Clint, surprisingly, that cut off JARVIS, his voice suddenly deadly serious, “I recommend we wait on the extraction for now, Cap. We didn’t manage to get rid of all the Hydra operatives in the area and we still don’t know what the remaining ones are up to.”

Steve ruminated over that for a moment, “Alright then. We’ll meet up with you at your current location. JARVIS, can you hold the plane in position long enough for us to get out and then stow our ride?”

Steve was sure he caught a mild bit of reproof in JARVIS’s tone, “Of course, Captain.”

Tony snickered over the com line but said nothing.

“Alright, we’ll be meeting up with you soon. Tony, I want you to get to work on finding out where the rest of the Hydra agents have gone to ground, coordinate with Natasha’s team and find what you can.”

“Sure thing,” Tony was unusually compliant, Steve noted. Steve wasn’t sure he wanted their personal life to start to seep into their work in the Avengers, but he figured this, at least, would be a good change from their standard routine.

Steve and the rest of the Avengers on the Quinjet began to prepare for immediate departure when JARVIS’s voice came up on the com system, “Hydra has begun an attack against a building held by suspected Russian forces.”

“What?” Steve turned to the screen, where JARVIS was playing video of the altercation. Several Hydra operatives were taking point, focusing fire on the Russians in the building. What the Russians didn’t see, however, was that the attackers were covering for a team that was moving around the building. They were setting up some sort of device, about as large as Steve’s torso, and though it looked cobbled together from various spare parts, Steve knew a bomb when he saw one.

“Tony, any idea what the payload on that thing is?” Steve knew without question that Tony had already identified the device.

Tony’s voice was slow in coming, however, “No. There’s no possible way.” Tony didn’t sound like he was speaking with the intent for the rest of the Avengers to hear.

“Tony!” Steve barked, hoping to bring Iron Man back into play.

“Yeah. Right. The bomb looks experimental. Cobbled together parts. It doesn’t look like a conventional explosive.” Tony still sounded slightly shell shocked, but Steve could tell that his head was back in the game.

“We’re trying to get into a better vantage point now,” Natasha’s voice came up.

Steve was about to say something, but it was Tony who spoke first, “Not a good idea, Natashalie. Keep your thighs of death at least two hundred feet away from that explosive. If it is what I think it is, you don’t want to be too close.”

“We have experience in diffusing bombs, Stark.” Clint’s voice came through with a snort.

“Not this type you don’t. I’m serious. Stay away from that device. As near as I can tell, it’s going to–” Tony cut himself off, and Steve could see why. Hydra had begun to retreat, leaving the device behind. The view had switched to Iron Man’s bird’s eye view of the field, and therefore gave the team on the Quinjet an excellent view of the bomb exploding.

The explosion was bright, and for a second, Tony’s vision of the fight was clouded out by bright light. Steve’s heart was caught in his throat as Iron Man began to fall.

“JARVIS!” Steve shouted.

“We will be on site momentarily, Captain.” JARVIS’s voice was a picture of calm, though Steve had since learned to tell when the AI was just as panicked as he was, given Tony’s track record.

A moment later, the scene from Tony’s eyes stabilized and took in a small smoking crater where the building had been. The surrounding area was relatively unscathed, with only some minor burning to indicate anything had happened at all. But the site of the building itself was different. All that was left of the alleged Russian stronghold was a smoking crater.

Steve was suddenly grateful that Tony had kept Bucky, Clint and Natasha away from the scene.

Steve’s mind took a bare second to think all of this through before he was calling to Tony, “Iron Man, report!”

“Well, that was fun. Definitely a super special type of firecracker, given the precision of the strike and the strength of the explosion. I’ll have to see what JARVIS managed to get from the explosion and the images we captured of the device. Mind giving me a hand on this one, Brucie bear?” Tony’s voice was irreverent, but everyone could hear something shaken in the man’s tone.

“Sure thing, Tony.” Steve looked over to see Bruce giving the screen a tight smile. Steve knew how hard this had to be for Bruce, as Tony was one of the few people who the other scientist felt completely at ease around, to say nothing of the Hulk, who always seemed awfully protective of Tony.

“Orders, Cap?” Natasha’s voice was calm, but Steve could still hear the underlying tension in the words.

“I want you, Bucky and Clint to see if you can track down any of the escaping Hydra agents. They were in civilian clothes and are going to be a bit hard to track down, though. JARVIS, think you can give them a hand?” Steve was sure that Tony and Bruce would have an easier time finding out what the device was if they could capture one of the operatives. Natasha and Bucky would be able to extract whatever info they needed in short order, though Steve would prefer not let loose the big guns right from the get go.

“I am sending Rebecca facial captures of the agents and Agent Hill’s extrapolations of potential escape routes as we speak. She will relay the information to Sergeant Barnes and Agents Romanoff and Barton.” JARVIS’s seemed to hold less tension now that Tony was demonstrably safe.

There was a fraction of a second’s pause before Natasha spoke again, “Rebecca’s got the info. We’re chasing them down now.”

The Avengers spent the next couple of hours attempting to track down the Hydra agents and recover as many bomb parts as they could. Bruce and Tony managed, with Sam’s help, to gather up a few mostly disintegrated pieces of the device, while Bucky, Clint and Natasha had just about as much luck. They had cornered one Hydra agent, but the man had quickly committed suicide before they had the chance to bring him into custody.

The Avengers flew home in a quiet near silence, with Tony and Bruce whispering to one another in the corner of the plane while Thor snored quietly against a wall. Bucky, Natasha, and Clint were asleep as well, exhausted by the antics Hydra had put them through. Steve, though, was still ratcheted up on tension, and contented himself to watch Tony and Bruce leaning together. Steve was happy that Tony had a friend like Bruce, someone who understood his language, but he was man enough to admit to being a little jealous.

It wasn’t that Steve was jealous of the time Bruce spent with Tony. Rather, Steve was jealous that Bruce understood Tony’s language so easily. There were often times on missions where the two of them would descend into levels of technobabble that left the rest of the team in the wind, but they always came out the other side with some innovation or revelation that helped them save the day. Steve was glad of that, even if he couldn’t be the one to help Tony reach that same type of headspace.

Steve was jolted out of staring at Tony, in a perfectly normal and polite way, when Sam’s soft voice interrupted his thoughts, “Thinking deep thoughts?”

Steve turned to look at Sam, who was looking at Steve through one droopy eye. The day had taken a lot out of all of them, and Steve had assumed that he, Tony, and Bruce were the only ones still awake. “A little. Just thinking about our situation,” Steve said. It wasn’t quite a lie, but Steve wasn’t ready to talk about what he and Tony were just getting started with. Maybe after things were a bit more concrete, he would feel differently, but for now, Steve wanted to keep what he and Tony had under wraps.

Sam nodded in understanding, though, “Hydra just doesn’t seem to quit, huh?”

Steve sighed. If he had been allowing himself to think of things that weren’t shaped like Tony, smelled like Tony, and looked like Tony, he would probably have been thinking about that. In point of fact, it was entirely possible Steve was using Tony as a distraction from thinking about the potential resurgence of Hydra. Again.

“I don’t know about that,” Tony’s voice broke into the conversation before Steve could reply.

Sam arched an eyebrow at Tony, “Why not? They were all Hydra operatives and were using Hydra equipment.”

Bruce let out a speculative sound, “But their pattern, and their technology, don’t really line up with Hydra. There were no civilian casualties. None at all. That doesn’t mesh well with Hydra’s Modus Operandi of sowing chaos. Not only that, but that bomb that they used wasn’t anything we’ve seen from them before. It completely demolished the building. It shouldn’t have been able to do that.”

Tony nodded in agreement, “If Hydra had that type of ordinance, they would have been hitting us with it earlier. No, that type of bomb was,” there was a shadow over Tony’s face now, “something that I don’t think they should have had.”

Steve tensed up in reaction to Tony’s body language, “Was it one of yours?”

Steve could practically hear the gears turning in Tony’s head, but Tony’s reply was still prompt, “Nothing I’ve released, no. It looks similar to designs I was putting together, before Afghanistan, but we didn’t manage to recover anything substantial of the bomb, so there’s no real way of knowing. I’m going to have to look into it more when we get back to New York.”

Steve read between the lines, “This wasn’t your fault, Tony.”

Tony’s smile was sharp, “I’ll decide that after I figure out where they got that bomb from.”

Bruce sighed and Sam shook his head. “Steve is right, Tony,” Bruce said. “Just because they were using a bomb that was _potentially_ based off of your designs doesn’t make it yours.”

Sam hummed in agreement with Bruce, “You didn’t build that bomb, Tony.”

Tony sighed, “Yeah. I guess.”

Steve wasn’t fooled though, and Steve was betting that neither Bruce nor Sam was either. Tony would be blaming himself for this for a while. Steve might have to use more creative means to get Tony’s mind off of this, but that was a project that Steve was more than happy about starting up.

“But we digress,” Tony said next, making no attempt to hide the fact he was changing the subject, “Their tech and their style of operating make no sense, contextually, for Hydra.” Tony shrugged, “In short, something smells rotten in the state of Denmark, and we should probably fix that.”

Sam snorted, “It’s Hydra. Something’s always rotten with them.”

Steve nodded his head, “We’ll figure out what they’re up to. It’s always variations on the same theme.”

Bruce stroked his chin speculatively, “We’ll get a better idea of what might be going on once we get back to the tower. I’m sure Maria has a bunch of Org Charts that she wants to show us.”

Tony rolled his eyes with a slight scoff, “Save us all from the Org Charts.”

Steve arched an eyebrow over at Tony, “From what Pepper says, you love the things.”

Tony placed a hand over his chest in mock hurt, “I do not. Why does Pepper spread such lies about me? What have I done to deserve such treatment? Abuse! Abuse, I tell you!”

Bruce, Sam, and Steve all smiled. It seemed that Tony was either out of his funk or an exceptional actor. And though Steve didn’t doubt that one of Tony’s signature policies was “fake it till you make it,” Steve was at least glad to see that his almost-boyfriend wasn’t quite in the doldrums any longer.

The conversations took on a lighter hue and tone the rest of the trip back, none of the Avengers wanted to confront the fact that a problem they had thought dealt with, a problem that _should_ have been dealt with, was now back in full swing. Sam and Tony ganged up on Steve to tease him, with Bruce occasionally stepping in when Steve’s spluttering hit dangerous levels.

All in all, despite the fact that their situation had reverted back to the status quo, Steve could say he was happy.

What Steve was most looking forward to, though, was getting some alone time with Tony. He knew that their time would likely be a little more tightly rationed, now that Hydra was back in the picture, but he was sure that they could make time for one another. Steve would drag Tony out of his workshop if he had to, and Steve knew that, after Tony was no longer in a state of perpetual self-pity, he would be up for going out and having a night on the town with Steve.

They could go out and see museums together, maybe go to a nice restaurant for dinner, take a leisurely stroll through Central Park afterwards. Tony might even invite Steve back up into his room again. That thought led Steve to the memories of Tony in the shower, the only thing preventing Steve from getting an eyeful being the foggy mirror.

Steve shuddered at the thought, then jolted out of his daydream and fantasy when Bruce put a palm to his forehead. “Steve, are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah? What? What’s wrong?” Steve met the skeptical stares of a hanger full of now fully awake Avengers.

Tony arched an eyebrow, “We’re heading in to the tower. We’ll be there in a couple minutes. You weren’t responding when we were calling you.”

“I was just thinking, is all.” Steve said quietly, not quite meeting Tony’s eyes.

There was a knowing glint in Tony’s expression, though the rest of the Avengers just nodded. They all obviously thought Steve was lost in thoughts about Hydra and logistics and battle strategies. Tony, however, was wearing a too-knowing smirk that did not bode well for Steve’s future state of mind.

Or maybe it did. One never could tell with Tony Stark.

But the Quinjet landed before anyone could say anything about Steve being preoccupied or Tony could find some subtle way to embarrass him. Bucky, Clint, and Natasha went straight to their rooms, waving at the rest of the Avengers. It was obvious that the trio was still tired, and had only really woken up to get to more comfortable sleeping arrangements.

Thor plodded off, shouting his goodbye as he went off to meet up with Jane for dinner. Bruce did the same, claiming to want to work on some of the readings JARVIS and Tony had taken of the explosion in his lab, as the physicist had already ordered food to his lab for a working dinner.

Sam patted Steve on the shoulder and took off for his own suite, obviously tired and in need of some time to decompress. Sam gave Steve a tired smile, though, as he headed for the elevator, his eyes sliding towards Tony with worry before Sam departed.

The moment the two of them were alone, Steve headed towards Tony and wrapped the other man in a hug. Tony let out a gasping breath of air. Tony mumbled about Super Soldiers and their cuddly tendencies into Steve’s chest, but hugged Steve back none the less.

“You do know that none of that was your fault, right?” Steve asked, needing to know that Tony believed it was true, believed him.

Steve could feel Tony freeze in his arms before relaxing, “Yeah, well. I’m going to have to look into that. Something about that bomb was a little too familiar, if you ask me.”

Steve held Tony closer, “We’ll get them eventually, Tony. You’ll see.”

Tony sighed, “I was just about to head down to my workshop. Want to join me?”

Steve pulled back slightly and arched an eyebrow at the man in his arms, “Anthony Edward Stark, was that a come on?”

Tony smirked, wiggling his eyebrows, “It can be if you want it to be. But I was mostly thinking just you, me, some take out, you with some time to sketch and draw, me with some time to tinker. You know. Just spending time together.”

Steve felt a grin tug up the corners of his lips, “That’s awfully thoughtful of you, Tony.”

Tony shrugged, looking away, “Yeah, well. I’ll be getting you oversized stuff animals and things you have absolutely no idea what to do with in no time flat. You’ll be eager to pawn me off on someone else soon enough.”

Steve squeezed Tony into him, breathing in the other man’s scent, “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”

Tony squirmed and extracted himself from Steve, making his way to the elevator, “Yeah, yeah.”

Steve laughed as he followed after Tony, the two of them making their way down to Tony’s personal lab. Tony reached over tentatively as the elevator doors shut, his fingers brushing up against Steve’s palm.

Steve reached out and grasped Tony’s hand without a second thought, lacing their fingers together. Tony coughed and looked in the other direction, avoiding Steve’s gaze. Steve, on the other hand, could not help the dopey smile that had stretched the sides of his mouth to the point of pain. He would have normally expected Tony to be all hands and mouth and intimate action, but this side of Tony was something softer, something that Steve hadn’t expected to see from the other man. Not that Steve was complaining. The simple intimacy was enough to assuage the core of worry and malcontent that tugged at Steve.

The two of them entered Tony’s workspace with their hands clasped, but let one another go as they sat down at their various work spaces. Tony sat by his holographic display, the blue lights lighting up in time with a little bit of Tony’s expression. Steve was happy to settle into his little art space, though he did miss the contact with Tony. So, instead, he took to putting down everything of Tony that he could on paper. The way his hands danced over an intangible interface, the various and multifarious micro expressions he wore when he was working, the way his whole body seemed to move and sway in concert with whatever it was he was doing.

Tony’s whole body was expressive, and Steve was more than happy to get lost in memorizing each and every facet of Tony in the workplace. Or, at least, he was until he noticed the line of tension running through Tony’s shoulders and the harried look in his eyes. “What are you working on?” Steve asked, pushing up from his seat and walking over to Tony. Steve picked up a pizza box, which the bots had no doubt delivered while he had been otherwise distracted, and brought it over to Tony. He hadn’t realized how hungry he was until the smell of the food really hit him.

Tony sighed and leaned backwards in his chair, but didn’t move to cover up what he had been doing, so Steve supposed that was some sort of progress. Steve was all too sure that, had they not already hashed out a little about how they felt for one another, Tony would have just covered everything up and giving Steve his patented Stark Smile.

“It’s been bothering me. Hydra shouldn’t have access to that type of technology.” Tony said, his eyes never leaving the holographic display. He did grab a piece of the pizza and bring it to his mouth, though the way Tony’s focus remained on the screen in front of him told Steve that he probably wasn’t enjoying the food the same way Steve was.

Steve sighed and wiped his fingers on a napkin before leaning down to wrap Tony in an embrace. Tony stiffened before relaxing, which Steve took as a good sign. He had known that Tony wouldn’t be fully open and ready to commit to a real relationship right away, but it seemed the inventor was willing to meet Steve half way. “Hydra has advanced technology, Tony. Just because one of their bombs seems similar to something you designed a while ago doesn’t mean they necessarily stole it from you.”

Tony’s mouth scrunched up, “This isn’t about my ego, Steve.”

Steve sighed, “And I wasn’t trying to imply it was. It might just be, what was the word Natasha used earlier today? Data collisions?”

Tony turned halfway to meet Steve’s serious face with an arched eyebrow, “Are you trying to talk sexy to me, Steve Rogers?”

Steve gave Tony a quick peck on the nose, something that Tony gasped at, before speaking, “Maybe, if you weren’t torturing yourself over things that weren’t your fault to begin with, you would have a chance to find out.”

Tony frowned, “Steve, I have a responsibility to find out if this is my tech, and if it is, to get rid of it.”

Steve squeezed Tony tighter, and Tony made an indignant sound of protest, but didn’t attempt to move otherwise, “Tony, you aren’t responsible for every piece of advanced weaponry in the hands of terrorists the world over.”

Tony’s brow furrowed, “This particular bomb though…” Tony trailed off as he stared hard at the design.

“If I may, Sir,” JARVIS’s voice was smooth, though Steve did jump back a little at the sound, “the analyses you and Dr. Banner have completed show no conformity at all with any device you have invented, either in your more readily accessible systems or the Twenty Seven compliant schematics.”

Tony hadn’t so much as twitched when JARVIS spoke, “And I suppose there was no chance that they were using any form of arc reactor tech?”

“No, Sir. As you and I both know, a catastrophic overload of any arc reactor device would produce a large electrical discharge as opposed to a conventional explosion, much like the one at your factory in Malibu did.” JARVIS’s voice was dry, but Tony was looking more and more reassured as time went on. He had even started munching on another piece of pizza.

“I suppose that is true. An arc reactor overload wouldn’t have produced the type of explosion necessary to almost completely disintegrate the building like that.” Tony’s tone was speculative, and Steve knew that Tony was slowly being drawn away of the idea that the actions of Hydra were somehow his responsibility. Though heaven knew Steve was being a bit hypocritical about that. He had, more than once, required Tony or Natasha or Sam or Bucky, or occasionally all of them at the same time, to pull his head out of his ass when taking responsibility for not destroying Hydra properly the first time.

There was one thing that Steve didn’t quite understand, however, “Arc reactors release electricity when they overload?”

Tony nodded, “You could call it a design feature. You would have to seriously tamper with the designs of any arc reactor in order to get it to produce an actual explosion, like the one in a bomb. Most of the time, an arc reactor overload is expressed by the arc reactor releasing the stored energy as electricity in a large burst.”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “Isn’t that still an explosion?”

Tony scratched his chin, “Kind of, yeah. But, instead of light and heat and concussive force, the arc reactor only releases electricity. Still pretty deadly if you’re standing right next to it, or if you’re in the path of one of the electrical discharges, but it’s not going to produce the specific types of energy necessary to, say, turn a building into a pile of rubble.”

Steve arched an eyebrow, “You sound like you’re talking from experience, Tony.”

Tony waved off the comment as he got up, turning off the holographic display. Steve wasn’t sure if he were happy that Tony was letting this go, or worried that Tony was letting this go, “I may have rigged a moderate overload on one of the original reactors.”

Steve smiled as he bumped his shoulder against Tony’s, “I’m sure your exaggerating. How could an arc reactor explosion be anything but huge?”

Tony sniffed, but didn’t move when Steve took Tony’s hand in his own, “I will have you know, Captain Sass and Spangles, that the explosion was perfectly contained.”

“I feel inclined to remind you, Sir, that the explosion you are referring to took out power throughout Malibu, electrocuted you severely, and fatally electrocuted Mr. Obadiah Stane.” JARVIS’s voice was anything but amused. Tony winced and Steve realized he had been gripping Tony’s hand a bit too tight at the mention of Obadiah Stane. He still hadn’t heard what, exactly, had led to Stane’s death, but it appeared that Tony had been directly involved. And in the line of fire, though that wasn’t too surprising, considering Tony.

Tony frowned, “You make it all sound so serious, JARVIS. It was a pre-first gen arc reactor. A prototype. Nothing big. And I’m fine, Steve.” Tony directed the last to Steve as the corner of his mouth twitched upwards again.

Steve gave Tony a level look, or tried, but felt a smile creeping up on his own face in answer to Tony’s, “Yes, well, excuse me for being a bit stressed hearing my boyfriend almost killed himself getting rid of his first villain.” Steve’s smile faded back into a frown as he leveled Tony with a serious look, “In fact, I’m beginning to sense a pattern here.”

“I know that look!” Tony said, his smile only widening, causing Steve’s chest to flutter, much to his chagrin. How was he supposed to properly chastise his boyfriend if the man constantly set his heart a flutter? “That’s the Cap Disapproves Look, Version 2.0, Upset Boyfriend.”

Steve knew he shouldn’t get distracted, but he couldn’t help himself, “So you’re alright with the whole boyfriend thing?”

Tony opened up the elevator, taking his time putting in the security protocols to get them to their floor, “I’m still waiting for you to wake up and come to your senses, Steve.” Tony’s voice was soft, and he was looking away from him, but Tony’s hand hadn’t left Steve’s the entire time. “But, until that day comes, I’m selfish enough to want everything I can get.”

Steve smiled, pulling Tony into an embrace, something which Tony melted into instantly, “Someday, you’re going to give up waiting.”

Steve could feel Tony smiling into his chest, “It looks like you respond to a challenge about as well as I do.” Tony’s eyes were deep with tangled emotions as he looked up at Steve. But first and foremost, those eyes were filled with something soft and warm and all too gentle. Steve was looking forward to getting lost in those eyes more often.

They spent the rest of the elevator ride in a soft silence, simply holding one another, and walking the short distance to their individual rooms together with clasped hands. Steve saw the wordless invitation in Tony’s eyes, in his body language, though Tony never once commented on it or overtly beckoned him in.

Steve wasn’t sure if he would have said no this time, but reminded himself that he wanted to do this properly. Steve leaned in to give Tony one last kiss, and while Steve was expecting something dirty and raunchy and heated, it was soft and sweet.

Steve kept the feeling of that kiss on his lips all through his nighttime rituals and into his dreams.

* * *

When Steve woke the next morning he was already putting several plans into motion. While Tony may have learned to let go a little bit, seeing as how there was apparently no evidence to corroborate the assumption that the bomb was based off of Tony’s plans or inventions, Steve wanted to make sure that Tony didn’t have any opportunity to backslide into self-loathing and obsession regarding his legacy. To that end, Steve had decided to drag Tony out on a date. More than one, if he could.

This was, of course, purely for Tony’s benefit. If Steve and Tony got to have a good time together and enjoy a romantic excursion or two out on the town, well, that was just the nature of good planning. Steve had to be careful that Tony didn’t get wind of anything, however. If Steve wasn’t careful, he had no doubt that Tony would turn everything into a big deal and they’d be off to Paris for dinner at the Eiffel Tower before Steve could possibly protest. And, while that did sound nice eventually, Steve had no intention of ruining who knew how many other dates and proposal attempts just so he could get Tony to himself.

Steve shook off thoughts of proposals and starry nights with just him and Tony as he stepped out his door, freshly bathed and showered and ready to for his run. Much to his surprise, however, Steve found Tony joking around with Sam in the common area, where they usually met for their run. Steve wasn’t surprised that Bucky was still in bed. Bucky always took a little bit of a break after a particularly bad mission, and yesterday had to have been anything but easy on Clint, Natasha, and Bucky before the rest of them had gotten there.

“Steve!” Sam shouted as he caught sight of Steve. “Look who decided to drag his ass out of bed and actually come running with us?”

Stark gave Sam the stink eye, “Believe it or not, Wilson, I am capable of feats such as getting out of bed in the morning.”

Sam arched an eyebrow, “I think you mean you’re capable of such feats as stumbling around the place like a zombie, scaring the hell out of the rest of the living.”

Tony waved his hand in an almost imperial dismissal, “I will have you know one of my contingencies for the inevitable zombie apocalypse is to throw you to the hordes. You’ll keep them busy while I make my escape.”

“‘You just have to be faster than your friends,’ huh?” Sam’s grin was wry, but there was mirth in the tilt of the lines around his eyes.

Steve rolled his eyes. He wasn’t sure he entirely understood what these two were talking about, but he figured he might as well intervene now, rather than later, “Alright, you two, break it up. We do have a run to get to before the morning briefing.”

The two of them broke apart, smirks blossoming into smiles as they traded a glance, “We’ll have to get Steve started on some good zombie stuff, soon.” Sam tapped his chin as he spoke, giving Steve a speculative look.

Tony nodded sagely, “We’ll start him off slow. Something with zombies in it, and then we can work him up to a full-fledged zombie takeover.”

Sam put his fist behind Steve’s back, at which point Tony bumped it with his own, “Good plan.” Sam said.

Steve just put his hand to his forehead, “Alright, come on, boys, time to stretch.”

Things dissolved into a companionable silence as the three of them stretched. However, unlike the last time they had gone running, Steve was gratified to see that he wasn’t the only one who couldn’t keep his eyes to himself. Tony rolled his eyes over Steve’s form unabashedly, and what was more, it was obvious that Tony didn’t care who knew it.

Steve should probably be worried about a dozen different things. This potential resurgence of Hydra. The political fallout from Russian intervention in Eastern Europe. The potential destabilization of the free world. Whatever reality TV show the populace had decided to latch onto. But Steve found, much to his dismay, that all he could really focus on was Tony.

“If you two are done eye fucking?” Steve hadn’t ever really found Sam’s voice obnoxious before, so it came as a surprise when he was annoyed with his friend for interrupting what was turning out to be great Tony staring time.

And then the impact of the words hit him, “No. I- I wasn’t. I’m not sure. Tony?”

Steve turned to Tony, hoping the other man might have an out, something to cover up the fact Steve was horribly unbalanced and didn’t know how to respond. Tony, however, was just Tony, “Yeah. I think I’m done for now. I’m looking forward to seeing how Mr. America looks all sweaty and worked up.”

Steve hung his head and sighed.

Sam arched an eyebrow, “You mean you haven’t…?”

Tony pressed a finger to his lips as they exited the building, “A gentleman never kisses and tells, Wilson.”

Sam looked Tony straight in the eye, keeping pace as they started their run, “When I see one, I’ll be sure to remember that.”

Steve contented himself to running with the new banes of his existence. “You two do understand that I’m standing behind you, right?”

“Enjoying the view?” Tony immediately retorted. He was getting to the point where he was pushing himself and starting to get winded, but Steve could still hear the come on in the words.

“Alright. That’s officially enough for little ol’ me.” Sam said, quickly upping his pace and leaving Tony and Steve behind.

“Off with you,” Tony said, waving his hand towards the direction Sam had belted off in.

Steve pulled in front of Tony and started running backwards, still keeping pace with Tony, “Are you sure you want me to leave?”

Tony glared at him, “Showoff.”

Steve laughed, “I never thought I’d see the day where Tony Stark, of all people, called me a showoff. Everyone knows I’m as humble and good and wholesome as American Apple Pie.”

Tony glared, “Sassy bastard. Go and torture Sam with your superior physical prowess already.”

Steve gave Tony a parting smile as turned on his heel and proceeded to run at his own pace, quickly out pacing both Sam and Tony. Steve used the time on his run to both pester Sam as payback with his traditional, “On your left,” as well as to plot out exactly what he would be doing with Tony today. Steve knew in distant part of his mind that Tony probably had work to do and things to get done around SI, but he was sure that JARVIS, at least, would be willing to schedule Tony a break. Heavens only knew that Tony deserved one. They all did, really, but Steve wanted to do something nice for just the two of them.

The other thing that Steve was thinking about was how easily Tony had come to terms with the team knowing about their foray into the realm of relationships. Steve himself would have preferred they wait until things were a little bit more settled, not because he didn’t want anyone to know that Tony was his, quite the opposite, but because he didn’t want to scare Tony off with a bunch of scrutiny. But actually seeing how at ease Tony was about the whole thing relaxed some part of Steve that he hadn’t known was tense in the first place.

It took a while, but eventually Tony caught up. Tony had made good time, coming in just a minute under his run the day before. Hopefully, after they were at this a while, his times would start improving more. And then Steve took a chance to actually look at Tony, bent over at the waist with his hands on his knees and dripping sweat. Steve suddenly understood why Tony was so eager to see him all sweaty earlier in their run. Sam coughed somewhere behind him and Steve put his jaw back in place. It was then that Steve noticed that Tony was shooting him a lecherous grin of his own, brown eyes raking up and down his body.

“I’mma head back inside, you two can do,” Sam paused to glare at the two of them, “stuff.” With that, Sam headed into the elevator, shooting back up into the tower proper while Steve and Tony just stared at one another.

Steve blushed, looking away from Tony, “I’m not sure how the team will, uh, react to everything.”

Tony waved a hand before putting it back on his knee, “The only person I’m remotely worried about is Barnes. I don’t want him to reach down my throat and pull out my intestines because I’ve besmirched your honor.”

Steve frowned, “Bucky wouldn’t do that.”

Tony arched an eyebrow, “So your best friend isn’t overprotective?”

Steve paused a moment, “Well…”

Tony arched an eyebrow, looking up from the ground to shoot Steve a grin.

Steve sighed, “I’m more worried about James and Pepper.” Steve knew he was trying to change to subject, and that he wasn’t near as artful about it as Tony. Tony, however, just stuck a hand out for Steve to take as they walked back into the elevator together, Tony having mostly caught his breath.

Tony snorted into Steve’s shoulder as he pulled them towards one another, “Rhodey’s a fanboy and Pepper,” Tony paused for a moment, “Pepper is Pepper. She’s practical.”

Steve felt something chilling crawl up his spine despite the warm figure pressed into his side, “What is that supposed to mean?”

Tony shrugged, “She’s not going to come after you with Stiletto heels or anything, if that’s what you’re worried about. She was the one who broke things off between us, and she’s already been looking at the field herself. Don’t worry so much, Steve.”

Steve sighed, “If you say so.”

“I do,” Tony said smugly, burying his face into Steve’s chest. “I love your boobs, by the way.”

Steve could feel a full body flush creeping over him. He was, by no means, an innocent man. He had been in the army during World War II, after all. He had kept himself for Peggy, of course, not that anything had ever come of it, but he had. It was just that, while he may have still been a virgin, Steve was used to the dirty jokes and the veiled innuendo and all of the things that came with being in a life-or-death situation with a bunch of your friends and the need to release tension that came along with it.

Still, Tony never failed to get a rise out of him, “They’re not boobs!”

Steve could feel Tony’s smile through his shirt, “Whatever you say.”

Steve sighed, “There was actually something I wanted to talk to you about.” Tony pulled back from Steve’s chest in a rapid motion, eyes wide as he looked up at Steve. “Not anything bad!” Steve rushed to add, “I just wanted to go out on the town with you today.”

“As in, a date?” Tony asked.

Steve smiled, “Yes, Tony, a date.”

Of course, as fate would have it, that was the moment the elevator opened up to reveal Pepper Potts. Pepper’s eyes flicked between the two of them, caught in a lazy embrace, no doubt having caught Steve’s closing remarks as the door opened. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

“Miss. Potts.” Tony greeted her, his lips twisting up in a grin as he looked over to his friend, but otherwise not moving.

That got an answering quirk of lips from Pepper, though her eyes were still firmly trained on Steve, “Mr. Stark.”

“So what’s up, Pepper Pott?” Tony asked, tilting his head from his position in Steve’s arms. Steve wasn’t sure if he should be ecstatic that Tony was comfortable with him in the face of his ex, or quietly screaming for his boyfriend to stop making the situation worse.

“There was a snag with our latest shipment of StarkPhones and R&D called me over to see if we could speed up the timeline on the latest round of tech that came out of their newest division. Something about mapping the origins of the universe.” Pepper had finally stopped staring at Steve to favor Tony with an imperiously arched eyebrow.

Tony snorted, “Jane and Selvig crashed our R&D meeting yesterday when one of their toys went a bit haywire. Needless to say, it got the rest of the geeks all worked up.”

“So should I tell them you’ll be coming down later today, or,” Pepper’s eyes moved back to Steve’s, her face carefully neutral, “should I let them know you’ve already made plans?”

“Plans,” Steve said before he could stop himself. “Actually, um, I was wondering, Miss. Potts, if you could clear Tony’s schedule today?”

Pepper tapped a perfectly manicured nail against her StarkPad, “Really?”

Tony shrugged, “It’s nothing that hasn’t happened before, Pep. I promise I’ll look over the specs with Jane and see if we can get development moved up on the prototypes. As for the phones, I’ll take a look at whatever went wrong and make sure the plans for the next gen phones are ready for release ASAP. Sound good?”

Pepper nodded her head, “Sounds good. If that will be all, Mr. Stark?”

Tony gave Pepper a small smile, “That will be all, Miss. Potts.”

Pepper favored Tony with one last smile before she marched into the elevator herself, prompting the couple to exit. Or rather, prompting Steve to drag Tony out as fast as he could. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Miss. Potts, it was just that she made him exceptionally nervous, what with how he had unintentionally destroyed her relationship with Tony by exposing Hydra for the world to see, causing him to come out of superhero retirement, and then scooping him up in the aftermath of their breakup.

Steve figured that was as good a reason as any for him to be uncomfortable around the woman.

“You don’t think she doesn’t like me, do you?” Steve asked once the elevator doors closed.

Tony sighed, “She’s just a bit worried, I think. She likes you, just not what you represent, I guess. And I don’t mean the American flag routinely strapped to your chest.”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “What do you mean?”

Tony untangled himself from Steve, though he kept their hands clasped as he fell backwards onto the couch. Steve followed, but pushed Tony’s back up so he could sit underneath, letting Tony’s head rest on his thighs, “I always thought it would be like laying on a rock. I’m glad to see I was wrong,” Tony mumbled as he turned into Steve’s legs.

“Tony, what did you– Tony!” Steve yelped as Tony bit him lightly. Steve was still only wearing running shorts, which had run up his legs when he had sat down, giving Tony access to uncovered skin.

“I mean,” Tony said as he reoriented himself, looking for all the world as if he had done nothing wrong, “that she doesn’t like that you are sort of the poster child for never being able to get away from this stuff.”

Steve frowned. He supposed it was true that he hadn’t left whatever it was his job was now, even after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. But all Steve had ever wanted to do was help people, so he hadn’t seen a problem with it. When he and Peggy had been dancing around one another, he had been content in the knowledge that his partner wanted the same things he did. It was the same with Tony. Tony so very obviously wanted to make the world a better place, even before he had become Iron Man. Yes, there had been all the crazy stunts and all the drinking and all the partying, all signs of a very off kilter life. But, even then, Tony had been developing weapons to safeguard his country. Even then, he had been donating to charities, attempting to give back to his country. It was only now that Tony had found a way to do so while actually giving himself any credit.

“I suppose I can understand that. I don’t see what’s wrong with it, but I can understand that.” Steve said quietly, brushing Tony’s hair away from his eyes.

Tony closed his eyes, leaning into the touch, “Neither do I. And Pepper knows that. We understood it was something I needed, and something she couldn’t handle. We didn’t break up because of anything you did, Steve, no matter how much it might look that way. It wouldn’t have mattered if it were Hydra coming out to the world or the next big alien invasion by purple people eaters. Something would have come and something would have caused me to rebuild the suit.”

Steve felt Tony squeeze his hand. “Just bad timing on my part, then.” Steve’s voice was quiet.

“Just bad timing.” Tony agreed.

They sat in that quiet space for a moment, just luxuriating in the easy intimacy of one another’s company. There was no need to talk or worry or do anything at all other than simply be with one another. Steve couldn’t have been happier.

“If I may,” JARVIS’s voice cut through the fog of contentment, “it is nearing time for the morning repast to be prepared. If Captain Rogers will not engage in his usual spate of cooking, it would be prudent of me to ensure food is delivered before the Avengers assemble in the kitchen.”

Tony made a noise of sleepy agreement, “He has a point.”

Steve smiled, “I can’t get up and make breakfast if you don’t get up off of me. I still haven’t even had a shower yet.”

“I suppose Steve food would be a good reason to get up as any.” Tony said graciously, his eyes popping open as he sat up.

“Additionally,” JARVIS said, “Miss. Potts has asked me to inform you both that she has cleared Sir’s schedule for the day. She also wishes me to convey her most sincere well wishes for your date.”

Steve could admit to being a little bit touched.

“Speaking of dates,” Tony said as he gave Steve the side eye, “where exactly are you planning to whisk me off to on your noble white steed?”

Steve fixed Tony with the most innocent look he could muster, “Well, you’ll just have to wait and see, now won’t you?”

Tony pouted, “Cheater. Using your powers for evil again.”

Steve just smiled, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Steve pushed himself up off the couch and headed towards the kitchen as Tony continued to pout at not being let in on the secret of where they would be heading during the afternoon.

Steve got as much of the cooking done as he could, getting batter ready for some waffles and the croissants put in the oven before darting back to his floor for a quick shower. Tony had already left the premise, presumably to freshen up himself. Steve supposed it was just as well. If Tony had known Steve was going to hit the showers, he probably would have invited Steve to join him, and Steve wasn’t so sure his willpower would continue to withstand such invitations.

Steve shook his head as he ducked under the warm spray of water. If he let himself linger on such thoughts for too long, he would have other, rather more immediate, problems with his self-control. But, then, any situation which involved both a shower and Tony seemed to end up that way.

Steve turned his thoughts away from Tony and towards some date ideas. He had been thinking about taking Tony to another restaurant, or on a walk through Central Park, rather than having the two of them run around it. There were also ideas like going to Coney Island or the beach in general. Steve sighed as he stepped out of the shower and started to towel off. He had no idea where to take Tony.

Tony, if Steve were being honest, seemed like a very hard man to plan a proper date for. Anything the man wanted, he got. It was very simple for him, but very difficult for anyone who wanted to actually do something special for him. The only thing that Tony truly seemed to enjoy was making things down in his workshop, but as much as Steve loved Tony, he wanted to do something they could share in together.

An idea struck Steve and he rushed over to his computer in the middle of pulling on his underwear.

“JARVIS?” Steve called after he pulled on his underpants. He knew the AI avoided monitoring them in any active form while they were indecent or in the bathroom, though the AI still had the capability to do so. Steve hoped he was decent enough not to disturb JARVIS’s modesty, if JARVIS cared about such things in the first place.

“Yes, Captain Rogers, how may I assist you?” JARVIS’s response was prompt enough that Steve figured the AI had to have been passively listening in on him, as the AI did with everyone else.

Steve quickly submitted the details of his idea to the AI, and was met by a brief pause before JARVIS responded, “I have found several locales that meet your stated requirements. I am sending them to your tablet. If you would make your selection and designate a particular time slot, I will handle the rest of the details.”

Steve smiled, “Thanks for your help, JARVIS.”

“I am always happy to assist, Captain Rogers. And, if I may say, your idea was an inspired one.” JARVIS sounded approving, which Steve wasn’t sure happened all that often.

Steve beamed at the ceiling, “I do my best.” Steve quickly picked out a location that had caught his eye early on, leaving the rest of the details to JARVIS in addition with a request for some dinner reservations at a nice Italian restaurant. Steve would ordinarily want to do more of this himself, but he had other work to be about. The morning briefing wasn’t going to wait for him to get the details of his date with Tony sorted out, after all. Nor would Hydra.

Steve sighed as he put the rest of his clothes on and hurried downstairs. The rest of the team should be just about ready to start heading towards the common area for breakfast, meaning that Steve would be right on time getting their food started. The sight that greeted Steve as he entered the kitchen, however, sent a pang straight from his heart through the rest of his body.

Tony was in the middle of cooking. From the looks of things, he wasn’t half bad, either. Tony had already started on the waffles with the waffle iron, though it looked as if the inventor had added some chocolate chips to Steve’s batter. Tony had also appeared to add some protein to the meal in the form of some bacon, and if Steve was judging right, adding some bacon bits to the eggs he was currently scrambling.

Steve smiled and walked up behind Tony, wrapping his boyfriend in a hug, “I didn’t know you could cook.”

Tony snorted, “I don’t, usually. I mean, I learned a long time ago, but I’ve never really had to. I guess I’ve watched you enough times that something had to sink in, or jump start some memories. I’m not the biologist, bug Bruce about it.”

Steve buried his nose into Tony’s hair, inhaling deeply. Tony still smelled slightly of sweat from the run, but it only added to the almost constant scent of motor oil and metal that Tony seemed to carry with him wherever he went, “You want me to ask Bruce why you can cook?”

Tony titled his head slightly to the side, “Well, if anyone’s going to have a good reason why I suddenly remember how to not burn water, it would be our resident biochemist.”

Steve accepted the unspoken invitation and pressed his lips to Tony’s ear, “That would be an interesting conversation to have.”

Tony shivered, and Steve could feel Tony’s heartbeat speed up, “Yeah, well, I’m a robot guy. Soft and squishy isn’t really my thing.”

“I know,” Steve said lowly, his voice dipping, despite himself, “you like things to be nice and hard, don’t you?”

Tony’s hands were still working the eggs and bacon, but they were shaking now, “Captain Rogers,” Tony tried to affect a scandalized tone, but his shaky breath belied the incredulity, “has homemade apple pie been corrupted? Are we sporting some the corrupted gooey goodness that is Cherry Filling?”

“Why don’t you take a bite and find out?” Steve wasn’t quite sure where he was getting these lines from. Bucky had always been the smooth one, between the two of them. Then again, he had always been sassy. Maybe flirting was just sass with innuendo?

“Don’t mind if I do,” Tony whispered, leaning back into Steve and turning his head so their lips could meet.

Steve dimly recognized that JARVIS turned off the stove at that point. The rest of Steve was far more concerned with an armful of pliant, warm, hot Tony.

“Sir, if I may–” JARVIS was speaking now.

“Not,” Tony dodged away from Steve’s lips for a second before Steve brought them crashing back together, mouth opening to put Tony’s tongue to better use. “Not now, J,” Steve growled as Tony’s lips pulled back again. Steve decided to attack easier targets and went for Tony’s neck instead. “Daddy’s busy.”

“I simply wished to inform you that–” JARVIS was cut off by someone screaming.

“Oh god! Where’s the bleach? That image is never coming out!” Clint’s voice was strident and just a touch smug.

“I would be more than happy to add some to your orange juice, Agent Barton,” JARVIS sounded completely innocent.

Tony snorted, pulling away from Steve slightly. Steve missed the intimate contact, but he wasn’t about to continue what they were doing with an audience, “I think Bird Boy Senior is going to require something a bit stronger than that. Do we have any Fun Pharm Number Six that R&D made for the Halloween party left?”

Natasha shoved Clint out of the way as she sat down at the table, patiently awaiting her food, “Do we want to know?”

Sam snorted as he sat down next to Natasha, “It’s a bunch of geeks, what are they going to make? Absinth?”

“I feel inclined to remind you, Sir,” JARVIS gave no indication that he had heard either Natasha or Sam, “that the last person to ingest Number Six had issues with their short term memory for at least a week, in addition to the hallucinations, dementia predicated on becoming the prettiest frog in the entire pond, and a decidedly unnatural purple shade of skin.”

“Exactly,” Tony said as he started to plate the food, “Clint loves purple. It would be perfect for him.”

Bucky walked in with a yawn, “What’s going on? Why are we turning Barton purple?”

“Unit JARVIS indicates that Unit Barton reacted adversely to interactions between Unit Creator and Unit Spangles.” Rebecca piped up from her position on Bucky’s metallic wrist.

“Unit Spangles?” Steve blurted, turning to stare at Tony, then at Bucky.

Neither of them seemed surprised. In fact, no one in the room seemed surprised, “You mean Barton was an ass about Steve sucking Stark’s face off?” Bucky clarified.

“Affirmative,” Rebecca answered.

Tony arched an eyebrow at Bucky as he put a plate in front of him, “Isn’t this the part where you tell me you’re going to break my arms if I break his heart or something?”

Bucky just stuck a fork in his food and shoved a bunch of the bacon filled eggs into his mouth, “I’ll break your arms if you break his heart,” he said through a mouth full of food.

“Thanks, Bucky,” Steve said, “I feel so very loved and looked out for.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “Steve, you’ve been pinning after this bastard for _months_. I swear, if I had watch you stare at his–” Steve quickly backhanded Bucky in the gut. Not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to cause the air to rush out of the man’s lungs.

“Jerk,” Steve muttered, giving Tony the evil eye as his boyfriend skipped him and gave food to Clint instead.

“Punk,” Bucky wheezed, grinning up at him.

“Am I going to be poisoned if I eat this?” Hill asks as she breezed into the room, Tony already having put out a plate for her.

“Cooking _is_ technically just chemistry,” Tony responded.

Jane and Thor walked in, both of them sitting down while Thor rapidly devoured what was put in front of him, grinning his approval at Tony as he was too busy eating to do much else. Jane, however, smirked as she put some of the bacon filled eggs to her mouth, “It doesn’t taste poisonous at least.” Jane smiled, “Though I’ve heard some interesting stories about your definition of ‘Chemistry’ in R&D. I’m not sure if I’m more worried or less if you consider cooking plain old chem.”

Tony snorted, putting some batter that Steve didn’t remember whipping up on the skillet. The spot in front of Steve was still woefully empty, and Steve’s stomach was beginning to gurgle unhappily at the lack of food. “No respect,” Tony muttered as he put something on the skillet in addition to the batter.

“Tony, I’d like my food now.” Steve grumbled, arms crossed as he watched literally everyone else eat chocolate chip waffles and bacon and eggs filled with bacon.

“Hill, why don’t you be a dear and start the morning briefing?” Tony said, apparently not acknowledging Steve at all.

Hill rolled her eyes but pulled put her tablet on the table and tapped in some commands. Half a second later, the table was covered in news feeds, all about Russia and Putin. Hill took a moment to swallow her food before continuing, “The effects of the potential Hydra strike have been written off as potential anti-Russian terrorists. So far, no one is making a link to Hydra. Seeing as how we only have circumstantial evidence pointing to potential Hydra involvement anyway, I decided it would be for the best to keep that image going.”

Steve frowned down into a space where food should be, “I’m not sure lying to people is the best way to keep them safe, Hill.”

Hill sighed, but it was Tony who replied, “She’s right, though. We can’t be absolutely sure this is Hydra yet. And, if we do spill the beans that Hydra has come back from the dead, again, things are probably going to escalate, and not in a good way.” Steve drummed his fingers against the table, pulling himself back from his emotions a little to try and see Tony’s point.

Bucky swallowed a mouth full of what looked to be delicious eggs, “I’d have to agree with Stark. We’re not sure if these guys are working on the same principles as Hydra or not. Besides, spreading it around that Hydra is back is just going to cause everyone to lose their cool and start mucking up, exactly what any terror group wants in the first place.”

“You make a good point,” Steve said slowly. He wished that Bucky and Tony weren’t making a good point, but they were. Steve didn’t want to lie to the populace, but at the same time, exposing what information they had could cause a panic.

“So we’re agreed on keeping a lid on the potential Hydra connection for now, then?” Hill asked, looking around the table.

Natasha and Clint nodded immediately, Sam taking a moment before following suite. “Aye, it is important to grasp when the enemy seeks only to sow terror, and when one might aid their cause with truth, no matter how well intentioned. Once we have discovered what connection these brigands truly have to the many headed beast shall we better be able to decide our proper course of action.”

Bruce nodded after Thor’s speech, but he still looked speculative, “I’m still wondering if these people are connected to Hydra at all. If Hydra had access to that type of explosive technology before, they would have used it when dealing with us. That they didn’t lends support to the theory that this might be a completely different group.”

Jane frowned, “But, from what I understand, the group you,” she gestured towards Clint, Bucky and Natasha, “encountered yesterday was at least partially comprised of known Hydra agents.”

Hill tapped her fork to her plate gently, “A new group could have absorbed Hydra’s resources after they were split up. It would explain how the Hydra remnants went from uncoordinated and disparate to launching attacks in such a short span of time.”

“Such a hypothesis would also explain why there are no indications of communications coming from known Hydra channels.” JARVIS’s voice was sudden, but welcome as the AI displayed some communications logs that essentially spelled out what JARVIS had already said. If Hydra was talking, they weren’t doing it the same way they had been.

“We’ll get what we have to Phil,” Tony said as he finally put a plate in front of Steve, “maybe he can track some of them down and get answers.”

Steve looked down at his plate and blinked, “Tony, what is this?”

The corners of Tony’s lips tilted up ever so slightly, but he otherwise kept a straight face, “Bacon pancakes.”

In addition to his bacon bit filled eggs and his actual bacon, Tony had apparently whipped up a new batch of batter for pancakes. Pancakes which his boyfriend had imbedded with strips of bacon. The pancakes themselves were all long ellipses, just large enough to surround the individual strips of bacon. Steve’s stomach growled in appreciation of the site.

“Maybe I should try some,” Bucky muttered, leaning over towards Steve, “just to make sure they’re safe. After all, this is Stark we’re talking about.” Steve quickly smacked Bucky in the gut again with one hand, slapping Clint’s hand with the flat of his knife with the other as Clint attempted to make a dive for the pancakes while Steve should have been distracted by his friend.

“Damn it. Dad! Mom’s abusing us!” Clint yelled, “And I want bacon pancakes and bacon waffles, too! No showing favorites.”

“Honey, stop beating the kids.” Tony said absent mindedly as he finished plating his own food, sitting across from Steve. While Steve was a little upset that he couldn’t cuddle with Tony while they ate, Steve was at least grateful for the show Tony was putting on, intentional or not. Steve had never considered bacon sexy before, but then, he had never quite noticed how Tony’s lips looked when they were biting into a piece before, either.

“Tell your son to stop trying to steal my food, then. _Honey_.” Steve shot back, smirking at the look Tony shot him as he looked up from his food. A jolt of anticipation stuttered through Steve.

“Oh, God, not at the table, too,” Sam muttered, burying his face in his hands.

Sam’s comment pulled Steve out of his staring contest with Tony, “Ah. I suppose this is as good a time as any to make an announcement.”

“If, by announcement, you mean that you and Stark are seeing each other, don’t bother. We guessed as much a while ago.” Natasha said, her lips quirking as she poured a hearty helping of maple syrup over her waffles.

“My most hearty congratulations on your joining!” Thor announced in his booming voice. “When did you consummate your most joyous relationship?”

Steve started choking.

He cast his eyes towards Thor, who looked as guileless as always. Jane’s smirk, though, may have indicated that Thor was up to something. “We just got together yesterday, Goldilocks. Any and all consummation, though, is–” Tony was grinning towards Thor, but his eyes were still locked on Steve.

“Nobody’s business but ours!” Steve hastily recovered.

“Verily!” Thor boomed, but held his hand out to Clint. Clint muttered something that even Steve’s enhanced senses couldn’t quite make out before handing Thor some money.

Steve boggled, “You were betting on us getting together?”

“No,” Clint muttered into his waffles, “we were betting on when. I bet on next week.”

“As did the wise Dr. Banner!” Thor grinned towards Bruce, who looked very put upon.

“What exactly did you bet, Brucie?” Tony looked more amused than scandalized. Steve supposed he should be grateful his team was so supportive of his relationship with Tony. It was better than their worry or condemnation, at any rate.

“It wasn’t, ah, me exactly who’s going to be paying up. Thor wanted to spar with the Hulk.” Bruce gave them all a chagrined smile as he took his glasses off to fiddle with.

Tony hummed, “JARVIS, make sure that Goldilocks and Brucie have full access to the subterranean testing area. The one we use for the potentially explosive stuff.”

“Of course, sir. Personnel list with access to Trinity Testing Floor updated. Would you like for me to record your matches, Prince Odinson!” JARVIS’s voice was a little bit too nice.

“Aye, Son of Anthony!” Thor hailed, slamming his cup down onto the table. Steve was grateful that Tony had built both to be Thor-proof.

“Now that we have all of that out of the way,” Hill said wryly, though Tony could see that she was making a note of something on her tablet that looked suspiciously like a betting pool, “I need to get some SI personnel out to try and track down our new friends.”

Tony sent her off with a smart salute, “Happy hunting!”

The meal wound down from there, with Sam quickly finishing his food and excusing himself, “I’m just going to get away from the goo goo eyes for a bit, if you don’t mind.” Sam was wearing a smile as he spoke, though, leaving his plate and utensils in the sink.

Bucky yawned, patting his belly, “I think I’m going to head back to the sack. I’m still whacked. Rebeca, wake me up in an hour to go to the gym, yeah?”

“Task created, Unit James.” Rebecca’s synthesized voice replied, “What alarm noise would you like?”

“Something to wake the dead!” Steve shouted as Bucky headed towards the elevator. Bucky just flipped him the bird as Rebecca sounded an affirmative to Steve’s orders.

Natasha and Clint begged off soon after that, both claiming to want to put in some light exercise with Sam in the gym. Clint was still bemoaning his losses to Thor, as well as his lack of bacon pancakes.

Unexpectedly for Steve, it was Bruce who proved an impediment to alone time with Tony, the mild mannered physicist pulling his chair close to Tony’s so they could work on something that looked very scientific and entirely incomprehensible. Steve frowned. They almost looked like a couple, faces animated as they dithered and dabbled, moving together almost in concert.

Steve didn’t consider himself a jealous man, but he still gave into the impulse to walk around to the other side of the table and wrap his arms around his boyfriend, “What are you two working on?”

Tony blinked up at Steve while Bruce gave him a canted smile, “Just verifying that the bombs used yesterday had no arc reactor hook ups. We would have found traces of the vibranium or palladium, if it had been. It still looks oddly familiar, but there’s nothing really to go off of other than that.” Bruce’s voice was reassuring, and Steve was grateful that Bruce was putting Tony’s worries to rest.

Steve nuzzled the top of Tony’s head with his chin, “See, I told you, there’s nothing to worry about.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Yeah, yeah. Far be it from me to argue with both of your powers combined. Thanks for the help, Brucie Bear.”

Bruce’s smirk spread over the rest of his face and turned into a full smile, “I think I’ll take a page out of Sam’s book and let you two be mushy together in peace. Watching you two is making the Other Guy nervous.”

Steve blinked, “Why would he be nervous?”

Bruce chuckled as he walked away, waving over his shoulder as he stepped into the elevator.

Steve’s face scrunched up, but he could feel Tony vibrating with laughter, “I don’t understand?” Steve said.

Tony tilted his head back so the top of his head was pressed into Steve’s chest, “Then don’t worry about it, lover boy.”

A thrill went through Steve at the appellation, “You’re going to have to be patient before we get that far.” Steve leaned down and kissed Tony on the lips, his nose brushing against Tony’s chin and goatee.

Tony chuckled slightly into the kiss. He pulled back slightly to speak, “And what of that wonderful date you decided to spring on me?”

Steve felt his cheeks twinge with how wide his smile grew, “That that we can do.” Steve pressed another quick kiss to Tony’s lips. Steve felt the tremble in Tony’s limbs at the words.

“You, sir, are a tease,” Tony said as he pulled back again, gently disentangling himself from Steve to start on the dishes.

Steve couldn’t help himself, “I thought you liked a challenge, Mr. Stark.” Steve walked to stand beside Tony, running the water and soaping his sponge. He quickly got to work lathering and rinsing the dishes, leaving them for Tony to dry and place back into the cabinets.

“I don’t, actually. But I do love picking them apart,” Tony’s voice was haughty, but Steve could see the quirk to his lips that belied the tone and words.

They lapsed into a familiar silence, quietly brushing up against one another as they proceeded to clean the dishes. Steve supposed it was indicative of how far gone he was that even small brushes of arms or elbows were causing him to be a flutter with anticipation for their date later. Steve hoped that they would always have that chemistry together, even if – when, Steve’s mind insisted on thinking – they got to the point where they would have been together for years and years.

All too soon, or not soon enough, Steve wasn’t sure which, they were done with the dishes. “So now are you going to tell me where we’re going for our date?”

Steve pulled Tony into a still slightly soggy hug, eliciting a slight gasp from Tony as wet arms made contact with his torso, “Why don’t I just show you?”

Tony gave Steve an unimpressed look, “I need to change into something that is no longer soggy, Captain Huggles.”

Steve couldn’t have helped the smile that was stretching his mouth if he tried, “You love my huggles.”

Tony gave him a rueful grin, grabbing onto one of Steve’s hands and dragging him towards the elevator, “I admit nothing.”

Steve arched an eyebrow, “I do suppose citing the Fifth Amendment is a constitutional right. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily bode well for your innocence.”

“You can prove nothing,” Tony said next, his grin widening as he kept a hand on Steve’s.

Steve did let Tony go, though, so that they could both change, “I’ll meet up with you after we’ve both changed.”

Tony pouted at being let go, but sighed, “Fine. I suppose I can always entice you to bed after the date.”

Steve arched an eyebrow as they stepped into the elevator and headed up to their floor, “I did tell you I was taking things slow, didn’t I?”

Tony shrugged, “Doesn’t mean I have to make it easy on you. And what’s the dress code for this place?”

“Wear something you won’t regret getting dirty,” Steve said as they stepped towards their rooms. Steve regretted the words the instant they left his mouth. He could practically hear Tony smirking, a ready innuendo on his lips.

“Just to make sure, you mean actual clothes, right?” Tony’s tone painted a picture in Steve’s mind of all the things he could get dirty sans clothes.

“You really don’t want to make this easy, do you?” Steve refused to turn around and look at Tony. He had a feeling Tony was doing that smoldering thing with his eyes again.

Tony just laughed and Steve heard the door close behind him. As soon as Steve heard the noise, he went about his own business, grabbing some clothes that wouldn’t mind a couple of stains. It was still a bit tight, but considering it was Tony who arranged for all of their civilian clothes, Steve had a sudden insight into why his clothes never really fit no matter how many times he had complained to Tony. Even if Steve had gone out and gotten his own clothes, they had always come back shrunk to a size where they would only just barely fit.

As Steve walked into the hallway and saw that Tony was wearing a ragged black T-Shirt with the words, _I’ll try being nicer if you try being smarter_ , inscribed on it, along with a pair of jeans littered with holes, he suddenly understood Tony’s obsession with keeping his clothes tight. If Steve had the option, Tony would be exclusively relegated to either tank tops paired with low slung sweatpants or a fully decked out tuxedo. Or the Iron Man Armor, Steve supposed. It wasn’t that Steve didn’t think Tony looked great in just about anything, but Tony looked _best_ in those clothes, hands down.

Steve could feel Tony’s eyes perusing his form, drinking him up. Steve felt himself preen a little bit under the attention. It was nice to know that his physical form was appreciated, even if that wasn’t everything that attracted Tony to him. Tony held out a hand to him once he was done, “Well, loverboy, since I have no idea where we’re going, lead on.”

Steve chuckled and took Tony’s outstretched hand.

Steve tugged Tony along into the elevator and pressed the button for the underground garage. He snuggled Tony until they made it down to the garage, handing Tony a helmet as he put his own on and brought his bike out from the Avengers parking area.

Tony grumbled as he got onto the motorcycle, his arms circling around Steve’s broad chest, “You’re lucky I lo-” Tony started coughing, “like you!”

Steve looked back behind him and suppressed the smile that was reaching out from the center of his chest and trying to smear itself all over his face, “Whatever you say, Tony.” Steve decided to gun the engine before Tony could get another word in, causing Tony to cling to him desperately as the bike shot forward and out of the garage.

Tony let out a whoop of laughter as they started off, but remained mostly silent as they sped through the streets. Tony kept his arms secured firmly about Steve’s chest, and Steve couldn’t help but feel happy at how snuggly Tony felt against his back as they darted between cars and through the streets towards Steve’s chosen date location.

A good fifteen minutes later, and they had arrived in front of a row of colorful New York shops on Amsterdam Avenue. Steve zipped into a spot, doing his best not to cut anyone off or accidentally collide with any of the bike messengers that still zipped around the city. Steve locked his bike up before he stepped off, helping Tony off a moment later.

“Mugi Pottery?” Tony’s head is tilted and his eyes narrowed. His voice, though, was quiet and reserved, and Steve brightens a little bit at the prospect of having surprised Tony, of them possibly doing something new together.

“Well,” Steve started out, “I figured it would be a good halfway point between engineering and art, and JARVIS said it was something you hadn’t done, and it’s something I haven’t done, so I thought we could try it together.”

Tony blinked for a moment before looking up at Steve with the most beatific smile Steve had ever seen, “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get dirty!”

Steve couldn’t help the laughter as Tony dragged him into the building by an arm. They quickly got settled for their lesson, a kind lady helping them out and getting them some preliminary tools and giant slabs of clay that had come with the lesson Steve had purchased. The lady did give them a couple of speculative looks, but JARVIS had signed them up for the couples course under assumed names, so Steve held out hope that his date with Tony wasn’t going to end up on the cover of the newspaper.

Steve and Tony quickly set down to start working on their pieces, getting the wheels up to speed and centering pieces of clay. They brushed up against one another more often than not whenever they stopped for a moment to gage their pieces. Steve was attempting something small, a mug that he could gift Tony with, hopefully slightly smaller than average so as to maybe cut down Tony’s coffee intake slightly.

Tony, though, looked to be trying for something big. He had used a full fourth of the clay that the instructor had given them, and had that methodical look on his face that never failed to enamor Steve. Tony’s arms were tucked together as the piece he was working on rose higher and higher, only for Tony to bring it back down again, widening the piece but keeping the walls relatively thick. Eventually, the clay took the shape of a large wide bowl underneath Tony’s hands. It was a low wide thing, and something about it struck Steve as different and somehow odd. Tony had done something with the lip of the bowl that made it undulate, but it appeared more stylistic than accidental.

Steve put the finishing touches on his own mug, working hard to get the handle just right before the carefully placed it on the patches of goopy clay he had applied to the semi-dry surface of the mug proper. He turned back to find Tony carving designs into the side of what was, doubtlessly, a bowl. It was more ambitious than most of the other first time students, and Steve felt a possessive sort of pride when the other first time students were gazing somewhat enviously at Tony’s creation.

“That’s…quite impressive, Mr. Sturm,” the instructor said as she gazed over their shoulders at Tony’s piece, referring to him with the fake name Steve had set up, “are you quite sure this is your first time?”

Tony, as was usual when he was concentrating on something, tuned her out, leaving it for Steve to reply, “It is. But he’s always been good with his hands.”

The instructor gave him a knowing look, “Well, you’re quite a lucky man, with such a _talented_ boyfriend.”

Steve wondered if his hair was going to turn read along with the rest of his face when the instructor emphasized the word “talented” with such obvious innuendo. “Thank you,” Steve managed to croak out after a moment.

It wasn’t until the two of them had cut their pieces off of the spinning wheels and placed them in the kilns to bake that Steve managed to get Tony out of his engineering trance. Steve didn’t quite mind, though. He was happy that he got to inhabit that space with tone, for once, rather than just sit on the sidelines and watch. Steve was actually hoping that he would be able to drag Tony back for a repeat and give him some tips when they had to paint the glaze on.

“That was amazing, Steve,” Tony gushed as they left the building.

Steve couldn’t help the smile on his face, “You were pretty good at it. Have you ever done pottery before?”

Tony seemed to freeze a moment as they walked along the streets rather than go straight for Steve’s bike, “Once.”

Steve frowned, “Tony? What’s wrong?”

Tony sighed, rubbing the hand not occupied with Steve’s arm through his hair, “I, well,” Tony took a deep breath and his shoulders seemed to straighten, “I did. Once. In Afghanistan.”

Steve blanched, squeezing Tony to him just a little tighter, “God, Tony, I’m so sorry, I never would have–”

Tony waved his hand dismissively, but he was still pale, “I had to make a mold for the original palladium core for the Mark I reactor. Not exactly crafting a masterpiece on a spinning wheel, but, yeah, there was that.”

Steve wanted to pull Tony into his arms and never let go, but he contented himself with pulling Tony as close as he could while still allowing them both to walk, “We don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to.”

Tony shook his head, looking up at Steve with a strained smile, “Hey. If I should be able to talk about this with anyone, it should be you, yeah?”

Steve couldn’t help the warm feeling bubbling in his chest, despite the topic of conversation, “Yeah.”

Tony sighed, “Anyway, sharing done. Let’s go to the park and you can buy me a hotdog or something.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the smirk on his lips, “Whatever you say, Tony.”

Steve lost track of time, after that. The two of them walked all over the city, chatting about everything and nothing, laughing over acts of random hilarity, sharing hotdogs, strolling through the park. Around sunset, though, the two of them headed back for Steve’s bike, riding back to the Tower.

Steve had regretted the need to return to the Tower, though he understood that the both of them had work to be about in the morning. It wasn’t exactly that Steve didn’t like coming home after a long date, but rather, it was the fact that _Tony_ seemed to close down, even in the tower, and put Tony Stark back on for the world to see, instead. Steve didn’t think that Tony did such a thing intentionally, and even then it had become more infrequent around the Avengers, but it was still something that happened.

Steve was more than happy with the rest of the date, though.

Especially when Tony turned him around when they parked and proceeded to show Steve how much he had enjoyed the date. Thoroughly.

Steve broke the kiss after what felt like half an eternity, “I. Dinner. Yeah.”

Steve could feel Tony smirking into his lips. They were still pressed together, forehead to forehead, lips to lips, though they were both panting heavily. “You go do that. I’ll see you at dinner.”

Steve reflected on how unfair it was that Tony was able to talk in coherent sentences after their make out sessions. Steve made a mental note to research some kissing tips online, or ask Natasha, so he could impress Tony in the future.

Steve had just reached the common floor when JARVIS spoke over the intercom, “All Avengers, please assemble in the common room immediately.”

Steve felt the adrenaline hit his system the moment the words were out of the speakers, “What’s wrong, JARVIS?”

In reply, JARVIS turned on the TV that the Avengers usually huddled around for movie night. There was a young man on the television wearing a tight fitting black uniform made of some sort of dull synthetic material. He gazed at the screen with clear green eyes, his brown hair popping against the plain grey background, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman of the United States of America. My name is Michael Lang. Many of you are probably wondering why I’ve commandeered your television screens this afternoon, and I do apologize for the inconvenience. The reason I’ve done this, is because I have a message. First off, not too long ago, Tony Stark and the Avengers he and Stark International have been funding were able to completely wipe Hydra off the map. I wanted to, first and foremost, thank them for their role in keeping the world and its people safe.

“But that is not enough. We understand that, as keepers of the peace, the Avengers can only go so far in the pursuit of justice. But, because my friends and I thought more had to be done, we decided to take matters into our own hands. That is why, yesterday, we attacked a stronghold in Eastern Ukraine occupied by Russian forces masquerading as revolutionaries. Some of my associates are broadcasting a similar message to all of Russia in their native language as I speak.

“We demand that the Russian dictator, Vladimir Putin, and his patsy, Dmitry Medvedev, resign from office immediately and allow the free people of Russia to hold unbiased and accountable elections for a proper leader. If these demands are not met, we will begin coordinated attacks against Putin and his regime until such a time as we are taken seriously. We are sorry that things have come to this, but we understand, now, that there is no other way to liberate the people of the world than through the use of force.

“We also understand, and regret, that our actions have made us enemies of the public, and likely, targets of the Avengers. We would like to ask that they assist us in our campaign to free the people of Russia, but know that such a request would not only be turned down, but met with hostile force. Instead, I would like to let the Avengers, the United States of America, and the world, know that not all is lost. We can rise from the ashes.

“Signing off. Until next time, Phoenix.” Michael gave the camera a natural and warm smile before the picture cut out.

“Well, there’s another one for the loony bin,” Clint muttered. Steve hadn’t seen the rest of his team come in. He had been too distracted by the honest and direct delivery of what was essentially a young terrorist. Steve could tell, though, that Michael believed in what he was doing. That young man hadn’t been coerced, wasn’t in it for money or fame or anything else. He _believed_.

And that was dangerous.

“Such foes should not be treated lightly,” Thor rumbled, echoing Steve’s thoughts. His usually boisterous personality clouded over, “They are fanatics, and will no doubt do anything for their cause.”

Bruce had taken off his eye glasses and was rubbing his temples, “But I guess we have some proof, now, that it wasn’t Hydra after all.”

Steve relaxed slightly when he felt Tony lean against him, and immediately put an arm around his boyfriend’s shoulders. Tony’s fingers were drumming against his crossed arms, “I’m so relieved.” Tony gave voice to the bitterness that Steve felt. He was still a little bit too shocked to say anything. Had they really only traded Hydra in for another insane group of madmen dedicated to their own private vision of the world?

“Steve,” Tony’s voice was soft as he touched a hand to Steve’s arm, bringing Steve out of the fog of worry and second guesses.

Steve shook himself, “We’re going to need to get a bead on these guys as soon as we can. I don’t suppose you could have traced that transmission at all, JARVIS? Tony?”

“I am sorry, Captain,” JARVIS replied. “Unfortunately, the message, and the other messages played around the world, only lasted just long enough to prevent a pinpoint trace as to their location. I managed to narrow down the locations to several counties in the nations of Israel, Great Britain, Japan, Ecuador, and the United States. Several transmissions went out to Russia, China, the United States, Germany, and Saudi Arabia, all in their native languages. Copies are being retransmitted across the globe to terminals in every nation.”

Natasha frowned, “That means they’re good. They may have kids as their front men, but they know what they’re doing.”

Bucky rubbed his chin with his mechanical arm, “I guess that answers the question of who ate up the loose Hydra strings, too. If these guys are the ones saying they blew up that place in Ukraine.”

Maria Hill walked through the elevator just as Bucky finished speaking, “It looks that way. SI and the Avengers are already getting questions about this new ‘Phoenix’ group and if we’re planning on putting them down the same way we did Hydra. President Elis’s Press Secretary is asking the same, so he can apparently put out a statement backing us.”

Tony groaned into Steve’s chest, “Just what we need. More politics.”

Steve frowned at Hill, “They can’t seriously expect us to jump on this right away without further intel, can they?”

Hill shrugged, “Things are heating up. Russia is throwing a fit and blaming the United States. The United States is denying involvement, and doesn’t want to let a rogue terrorist group run around since they might get ideas. The rest of the international community is just plain scared, after what they did in Ukraine. It’s a mess.”

Steve sighed, “Let the Secretary know that we will be dealing with Phoenix the same way we dealt with Hydra. The world has no place in it for people who think they can use fear to advance their own agendas.”

Maria nodded and began tapping away at her tablet. Sam shook his head, “But are these guys brand spanking new or are they just a Hydra rebrand? I mean, it doesn’t _look_ like they want world domination, but they’re up to something.”

Tony shrugged in Steve’s arms, “There’s really no way of knowing for sure what’s what until we get a better handle on what they’re up to. Hydra, for all that we hated them, was a known quantity.”

Bruce sighed, “Better the enemy you know…”

Steve straightened, “We can’t exactly deal with everything right this second. We still have lives to live. I’m sure Maria and Phil will be getting us anything they can, and once we have a better idea of what’s what and how to go about things, we’ll move.”

Clint whooped, “Yeah! I’m starving. Where’s dinner?”

“I took the liberty of ordering everyone’s favorites,” JARVIS said. “The food should be along shortly.”

The rest of the team dissolved into hushed conversation after that, waiting for their food to arrive while they discussed among themselves the implications of Phoenix. Steve didn’t participate, simply holding Tony, lost in his own thoughts. He didn’t want to give up all of his free time to track down the newest threat. He knew, if he did, that it would never end. Some other group or threat would simply rise after Phoenix was dealt with, and if Steve tried to tackle that full force and no holds barred with no time for himself, he would simply bleed himself dry.

“Enough brooding, Steve. Food’s here.” Tony’s voice was gentle as it tugged Steve out of his thoughts.

Steve perked up slightly as Sam and Bucky brought over an assortment of take out, ranging from Chinese to Pizza to Thai to Italian, “I’m not brooding.”

Tony arched an eyebrow, “You were definitely brooding, boy wonder. I know this group of nutjobs is an issue, but look on the bright side: they’re not Nazis.”

Steve rolled his eyes but couldn’t help a little smile, “I guess that is a small bonus.”

The team descended onto the take out with a vengeance. Steve wasn’t sure if the news would have dulled their appetite, but it was easy to see that everyone was ready and raring to go. They may not have had specific targets, but they certainly had a new enemy to deal with. Steve wondered, in some dark and sad part of himself, if people like the Avengers would always be necessary. If there would always be extraordinary threats to combat.

Tony bumped up against him again, once again stirring him from his thoughts, “You can brood later,” Tony said.

It didn’t take long for the Avengers to finish consuming the food, Clint, Natasha and Bucky going to the shooting range for some practice while Thor and Bruce headed for the testing area Tony had laid out for them so that Thor could spar with the Hulk. Sam went along with them, not necessarily to spar, but to watch and, if necessary, call for backup if the match became a bit too heated. Steve was glad for Sam’s foresight, but hoped it wouldn’t be necessary.

Steve somehow managed to cajole Tony into going to the gym to spar and train rather than locking himself up in the workshop. Steve’s plan was to exhaust the both of them so that neither of them would have to worry about their ghosts chasing them about. Tony had his fears of schematics and weapons run amok and Steve had his worries about a world where power and fear were considered preferable to freedom and justice.

The two of them fell into a dance. Tony followed Steve’s lead as Steve led his boyfriend through as much hand to hand training. And, if there were a few touches that lingered too long, or if they pressed up against one another too close when they grappled, well, that was between them. Steve needed the physical exercise to calm and center his mind, and it looked like Tony did, too. Plus, Steve thought as Tony started stretching which caused his shirt to ride up a bit, the view was much better than when it was just him and a punching bag.

When they had finished their post workout routines, Steve helped Tony back up to their floor. Tony looked more than a little tired, and it was probably due in no small part to Steve’s insistence that they keep going until Tony had mastered a few more moves, though Steve was always impressed with how fast Tony picked those things up.

“You’re such a gentleman,” Tony said dryly as they reached his door, Tony palming the handle to unlock it.

Steve shrugged, “I just wanted to make sure that you got back alright. If I hadn’t, there was a chance you’d just head to your workshop and hole up in there until tomorrow morning.”

Tony pouted, “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Goodnight, Tony.”

Tony grabbed one of Steve’s arms, pulling back as his door opened, “Not going to give me a goodnight kiss?” Tony’s eyes were hooded, and the way he was looking at Steve sent a jolt all the way from the crown of Steve’s head to the tip of his toes.

Steve took an almost involuntary step after Tony, “I suppose that wouldn’t be out of order,” he said breathlessly.

Tony’s smirk deepened at the corners as he reached up for Steve, bringing their heads together. The two of them stumbled all the way to Tony’s bedroom, Steve’s senses only coming back to him when he pushed Tony flush against the mattress.

“I, uh, think that’s enough of a goodbye kiss for now,” Steve said softly. His head was still heady from kisses, but he knew giving in to Tony now was not quite what he wanted.

“Do you want to just spend the night? No pressure to do anything. I just–” a flash of something vulnerable flitted across Tony’s face before Tony opened his mouth to speak again, the brief moment of hesitation lost. Steve quickly pressed his lips to Tony’s preventing whatever quip Tony had conjured up in order to cover up the brief moment of emotion.

“I’d love to,” Steve said against Tony’s lips. He felt the smile form on those lips before their owner brought them together again.

They kissed for a moment longer before Steve gathered Tony up in his arms, the inventor falling asleep shortly after. He had wanted to make sure Tony got a shower in, but Steve supposed getting Tony to bed at all was an accomplishment. Steve briefly contemplated leaving Tony only long enough to get in a shower himself before dismissing the idea and pulling Tony closer to him, closing his eyes and letting himself think of happier things that whatever madness the world thought up to throw at them next.

At least until that madness called for them from the realm of the waking. Steve and Tony jolted awake as JARVIS sounded another all call. They shared a brief look before scrambling for their equipment. Steve ran to his room to get his shield while Tony grabbed one of his suitcase suits from the closet. They were both assembled in the common room a moment later, the rest of the Avengers geared up in similar states of half wakefulness.

Clint and Natasha were in their pajamas, but Clint had his quiver and bow at the ready while Natasha was wearing her widow bites. Bucky was clad only in some sweat pants, obviously having come from bed himself. He toted a sniper rifle slung over his mechanical shoulder, eyes carefully neutral, a side effect of his time as the Winter Soldier that Steve had come to both despise and rely on. Sam had put his wings on, his two sub machine guns strapped to his legs, his face grim despite the tired lines of sleep deprivation that were etched into his face.

Thor was bedecked in his standard battle regalia, but his brows were pinched in a way that told Steve he was worried, which was understandable, given that Jane had elected to assemble with Eric Selvig and the rest of the Avengers. Bruce was there, too, eyes closed and breathing calm, his face masked by a Zen like detachment. Even Maria Hill had come up to the Avengers floor, dressed in the standard Stark International covert gear that resembled the old S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform in shape, but which was designed by Tony to provide much more protection.

“What’s the problem, J?” Tony asked. The lowered faceplate and active voice synthesizer served to drain all of the emotion from Tony’s usually expressive nature, but Steve could still see the lines of tension in his shoulders and the worry etched into Tony’s body language, speaking louder than words.

“There appears to have been a security breach, Sir.” JARVIS’s voice was devoid of the usual emotion he expressed with Tony, all synthesized business and calm.

Steve frowned, “Details, JARVIS?”

“The main point of incursion appears to be Sir’s workshop. My surveillance in the room has been disabled. The electronic security breach has been contained, but specifics of potential enemy movement and numbers within Sir’s workshop remain unknown.” JARVIS’s reply was immediate.

Steve could feel the entire team’s tension skyrocket, all traces of the dregs of sleep gone. JARVIS’s systems were beyond state of the art, and for them to have gained access to Tony’s workshop was no mean feat, especially if they managed to do so without JARVIS somehow finding out about it.

“Orders, Cap?” Sam’s voice was tight but calm.

“Are the elevators still safe, JARVIS?” Steve asked.

“Affirmative, Captain. I locked down core systems, including tower based transport. They are now routed solely through my main processer hub. Outside electronic access to the tower has been severed, per standard infiltration protocols.”

Steve nodded as JARVIS finished speaking, “I want Sam to carry Bucky down to the ground floor. Check to see if there are any signs of who got into the tower. Maria, Natasha, Clint, I want you to take the vents. Make it as far down as you can as fast as you can. Thor, I want you to take Bruce down to the ground floor through the elevator. You two stand the best chance of survival if something’s still in JARVIS’s systems. Tony, do you think you can get Jane and Eric access to JARVIS to back him up in case something goes wrong.”

Tony paused for a moment, and Steve knew he was asking a lot of his boyfriend. He knew this was something he shouldn’t be asking of Tony. His boyfriend treated JARVIS like a son, and implying that JARVIS was at all incapable or untrustworthy usually resulted in bitter snipping and passive aggressive behavior. But Tony simply nodded, waving Jane and Eric over to the dinner table, which had blossomed to life with holograms, data scrolling through the air.

“Tony, mind giving me a ride down to the ground with Bucky and Sam? I want us to check out your lab while the rest of them secure the tower.” Steve had already switched over to command mode, but he knew that, after Tony had already accommodated Jane and Eric, it would be best to play it safe with his boyfriend.

“Sure thing,” Tony’s voice was mechanical. Not for the first time, Steve hated the Iron Man mask, something that so completely prevented Steve from gauging Tony’s emotional state whenever Tony actually put it to full use.

The Avengers scattered, the assigned teams breaking off in order to execute Steve’s orders. Tony was already waiting for him outside while Sam and Bucky were flying down to the bottom floor, securing it and ensuring it stayed clear of any potential hostile influence. Tony wrapped his arm around Steve’s waist just as Bucky and Sam’s voices came over the com announcing that the first floor was clear.

They touched down just as Thor and Bruce called out that the workshop was clear. Steve nodded to Sam and Bucky, the two of them joining Steve and Tony as they marched to what was supposed to be Tony’s safest and most sacred place. Steve imagined for a moment what it was like for Tony to be woken up in the middle of the night by news that his Sanctum Sanctorum had been invaded and besmirched despite everything he had done to protect and safeguard it.

Natasha and Clint jumped down from the vents just outside the door. The ventilation system for Tony’s workshop was cut off from the rest of the building for security reasons, both for the sake of the workshop and the sake of the building. However, when Tony opened the door with his command code, the room really was clean. The only thing that stood out that Steve didn’t recognize was a hologram floating above the main workshop table.

The Avengers quickly checked all the corners of the room while Tony just stared at the hologram. Tony was perfectly still, which only served to make Steve nervous as he and the other Avengers finished canvasing the workshop.

“So, what is it, Tony? A love letter?” Clint’s sarcasm was shaky.

“‘Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me; The Carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. We slowly drove, he knew no haste, And I had put away My labor, and my leisure too, For his civility. We passed the school where children played At wrestling in a ring; We passed the fields of gazing grain, We passed the setting sun. We paused before a house that seemed A swelling of the ground; The roof was scarcely visible, The cornice but a mound. Since then ‘t is centuries; but each Feels shorter than the day I first surmised the horses’ heads Were toward eternity.’” Tony’s voice was haunting as it went through the cadence of what was obviously a poem. He had popped his faceplate up as he started reading the poem, and his face was deathly pale. Steve wanted nothing more than to hold him, right then, but knew he had to focus on the message first.

“‘A poem by Emily Dickinson, Mr. Stark, that I think fits you well. Your ceaseless advance, your view towards eternity, is an inspiration. Phoenix and I will be working towards this self-same goal. Consider this simply a declaration of our intent, and nothing more. We look forward to working with you more in the future.

“‘Your most sincere admirer, Dr. Morbius.’”

* * *

“‘We make our own demons,’ huh?” Tony’s voice was bitter, but Steve couldn’t let himself go to Tony until they knew the situation was resolved. Bruce’s eyes softened in understanding, and Steve ignored the somewhat familiar pang of jealousy at Bruce and Tony’s close friendship. There was obviously some significance to the quote for the two of them.

“This isn’t your fault, Tony. You can’t take the blame for every madman with a brain who decides you’re the person to beat, or in this case, emulate.” Bruce’s voice was soft, but Tony barely relaxed.

“Yeah, I guess,” Tony sighed. He straightened, “JARVIS, are we secure now?”

JARVIS sounded somewhat annoyed when he replied, “I have identified the security breach and back tracked it to a server in Australia. The associated computer has been dealt with and the security hole has been taken care of, Sir.”

Tony nodded, and all of the Avengers seemed to relax slightly, even Natasha, though she still seemed somewhat tense, “What’s the likely hood of this happening again? How did this even happen in the first place?”

JARVIS’s voice was calm as he replied, “The assailant did not breach my security systems via brute force hacking. Rather, a message was sent to Sir’s email account that went unfiltered due to the fact it was a Stark Industries email account. Once this email bypassed the screening process, it activated a program that displayed this message in all of Sir’s workshops. No sensitive information was accessed and a new set of filters has been set up screening any and all potential emails from any source.”

Bucky scratched his chin, “How good does a body have to be to do, uh, all that?”

Tony shrugged, “It’s a fair bit of programming, so they’re a genius at the very least. If they used an SI account they would have to have been either an employee, a former employee, or a former intern, and most of the qualification process for hiring is intelligence, so…” Tony trailed off as the rest of the Avengers frowned.

“So it’s a fair bet that this Dr. Morbius is an SI insider?” Sam’s words were more declaration than question, though he still looked towards Tony with an arched eyebrow.

“Either presently or formerly employed, yeah. Though, if they’re really good, they might have been able to create a dummy account for a couple minutes before the systems automatically deleted it. JARVIS, take a look-see at that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Tony made the request to JARVIS as an afterthought, but Steve, and likely the rest of the Avengers, could see that Tony was still shaken up.

“I think that’s enough strategizing for one night. It doesn’t look like there’s an imminent threat, and we all need our rest.” Steve’s voice was gentle, and the rest of the Avengers, sans Tony, nodded in agreement.

The Avengers, minus Steve and Tony, piled into the elevator, Thor requesting JARVIS inform Jane of the all clear so that she could meet him back at their chambers. What followed was several requests that Steve preferred not knowing about Thor’s love life, and judging by the assorted groans coming from the elevator as its door shut, the rest of the team could have done without as well.

Steve turned his attention to Tony, who had gone back to staring at the holographic message. Tony didn’t even startle when Steve wound his arms around Tony’s waist. “I thought we were going to bed together, Mr. Stark?”

Steve couldn’t feel Tony exhale through the Iron Man armor, but he swore he could feel some of the tension leech out of him, “Yeah. Yeah, that sounds nice right about now, actually.”

Steve stepped back as Tony collapsed his suitcase armor back into a more manageable size, winding an arm around Tony and picking up the suit himself once it was fully collapsed, “Alright, back to bed Mr. No-More-Brooding-Allowed,” Steve tried for a smile at that, and if Tony’s answering smirk was anything to go by, Steve had at least partially succeeded.

Tony’s snort was also encouraging, “I thought it was your turn to be the brooder and mine to be the level headed and supportive one?”

Steve kept a straight face, “You’re right. Actually, I thought I saw some pigs flying outside, too. They looked real at home, what, with the fire and brimstone falling from the sky.”

Tony shoved his weight against Steve as they stepped into the elevator, “Har har, Rogers, you’re a riot.”

Steve got the elevator headed up towards their floor, dealing with the security measures, “I do try.”

They spent most of the unusually long elevator ride in silence. Steve had a feeling JARVIS was up to something with the delaying tactics, probably pushing for Tony to get something off his chest, if Steve knew the AI. “Why can’t the world just give us a break for once?” Tony whispered as the elevator opened to their floor.

Steve hugged Tony closer to him, “I suppose it comes with the job description.”

Tony sighed aggrievedly as he opened up his room so the two of them could crawl into bed, “Stupid humans and their stupid brains and their stupid impulses. Why can’t they be sane rational beings like the rest of us? Is it too much to ask that they just be, you know, sane? It’s almost enough to turn a guy into a supervillain.”

Steve rolled his eyes, “Well, Mr. Not-A-Human, go take a shower and then we can go back to snuggling in bed.”

“Are you sure yo–” Tony’s leer was back full force and Steve was caught between amusement and relief.

“Shower. On your own. Now, Tony,” Steve fixed Tony with a look as he tapped his foot.

Tony held his hands up in surrender, “Fine. Spoil all my fine. See if I care.”

Steve laughed as Tony darted into the bathroom. The sound of the shower running came back not a moment later. Tony was done with his shower quickly, muttering that it was Steve’s turn and that he made no promises about joining Steve in the shower into his towel as he dried off his face and hair.

Steve laughed, but didn’t feel worried that Tony would push for anything. Despite all of Tony’s hinting and jokes, Steve never felt pressured by his boyfriend. They were more reminders that Tony was available and willing than anything else. It helped that Tony was always willing to turn it into a joke and not make Steve feel worried or awkward about not being ready for that, especially so early in their relationship.

Steve finished his shower quickly, joining Tony in bed after pulling on a pair of sweats that belonged to Tony but might actually fit him. Tony looked to be asleep, but the moment Steve laid down on the bed, Tony nestled up to him, burying his face in Steve’s chest. Steve smiled as Tony wrapped himself around Steve in his usual manner, hooking their legs together and throwing an arm around Steve.

Steve pressed a kiss to Tony’s head before letting himself drift off to sleep, dreaming only of sweet kisses and warm sunlight reflected in warm brown eyes.

Steve wasn’t sure if he was supposed to be happy about it or not, but despite gaining a new enemy with a new face, not much changed. The Avengers were on high alert for several days after Dr. Morbius’s initial message, but no attack was forthcoming. It wasn’t until a week later, when every member of the Avengers was starting to feel strained, that Phoenix decided to attack.

Steve and Tony had opted to put their next real date on hold until they had a better grip on the situation. The rest of the Avengers had done the same with their free time, which hadn’t contribute to peace of mind among the team. When the attack finally had come, Steve found himself feeling guilty for welcoming the change of pace. However, it was in a place that none of them expected.

Rather than in Russia, where Maria and Phil had been focusing their not inconsiderable attention, Phoenix had decided to attack Syria. The Avengers had mobilized within moments of receiving word of the attack, but had only just made it to Syria after the enemy forces had fled into the desert. The next day, Phoenix had broadcast a message condemning both the Assad Regime of Syria as well as the Islamic Terrorist group of ISIS.

Things continued that way for about a month, Phoenix attacking different hotspots of discontent and civil rights abuse every week, just far enough away and just fast enough that the Avengers and Phil’s S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives only managed to get to the situation just after the fact. They attacked in China, freeing dissidents against the state and leveling accusations against the government about the democracy of Hong Kong. They attacked in Mexico, wrecking the infrastructure of a particularly violent drug trafficker. They even attacked Latveria, stating that Doom was a menace and threat to world peace.

Steve wasn’t sure whether he was amused or agitated.

Especially since he had spent his one month anniversary _protecting_ Dr. Doom in Latveria. He and Tony had taken solace in the fact that Doom had rolled out the red carpet of state for them, with a feast and grand rooms and everything, afterwards.

The fact that they were playing catch up was wearing on the entire team, as they, SI, and Phil’s S.H.I.E.L.D. had only managed to catch the tail end of Phoenix once, just after their raid in Mexico. Phil had taken several Phoenix agents in for questioning only for them to commit suicide. What was perhaps worse was that their tactics, and their technology, were becoming more and more sophisticated with each attack. Their attacks in Mexico and Latveria, in particular, had been worrying, with Phoenix sporting powerful energy based weapons that had decimated drug traffickers and doom bots alike. The weapons were also hauntingly familiar when compared to Tony’s repulsors and wrist mounted energy cutter.

This inevitably led to Tony spending more and more time in his workshop attempting to track down their money trails, their acquisitions, any possible electronic trail they may have left while simultaneously attempting to find out how they had managed to acquire Tony’s weapons designs.

Steve did his best to be there for Tony, but he could see the toll the cat and mouse game was having on his boyfriend. Phoenix was a bad enough nightmare for Steve – Hydra come back from the dead in all too seductive and deranged a form – but he couldn’t imagine what it must be like for Tony, to have his work perverted and twisted and changed from something he had wanted to use to keep America safe and turned into something used to sow chaos across the world.

“Tony, you need to come to bed,” Steve implored the day after Phoenix had attacked Latveria and a month after their initial attack. Steve spent most nights with Tony in his room, and even though they hadn’t had a chance to go on any real dates, except for going back to the ceramics shop to finish glazing their works and putting them in the kilns, and then once more to pick them back up, they had grown steadily closer, spending as much of their private time together as they possibly could.

It had given Steve an unfortunately up close look at what happened to Tony Stark when he was obsessed with something. It was now obvious, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Phoneix was somehow appropriating weapons designs that Tony had produced. The only thing they had yet to do was, apparently, steal the arc reactor designs. Steve wasn’t sure if it was because those designs were too much for even Dr. Morbius to figure out, or if they were simply saving those designs for other purposes, but the truth remained that Tony had been delving deeper and deeper into obsession as time went on.

It broke Steve’s heart.

“Tony, please,” Steve was perilously close to begging now, “come back to bed with me.”

Tony jolted, turning around in his chair and blinking at Steve, as if just realizing that Steve was there. The sad part of it all was that was probably truer than Steve would have liked. Tony was splitting his time far too many ways between the Avengers, SI, and Steve.

“Sorry, Steve,” Tony said with a frown.

Steve sighed and walked over to the chair where Tony was sitting, enveloping his boyfriend in a hug, “What are you sorry for?”

Tony shuddered in Steve’s grasp, “For letting this happen. For being a shitty boyfriend. For not being able to _find_ anything. Take your pick.”

Steve sighed, “I understand that this is worrying you, that this is important to you, but please, Tony,” Steve knelt down to look at eye level with Tony, “try not to dive too much farther down the rabbit hole, yeah?”

Tony smiled and closed his eyes, leaning forward to rest his forehead against Steve’s, “I’m sorry. I’ll try, it’s just. I just,” Tony sighed.

Steve titled his head, allowing him to kiss Tony softly on the lips before pulling back, “I know.” And Steve really did. He knew the only reason he, himself, wasn’t going crazy attempting to hunt down Phoenix was because he felt that one obsessed person was enough in a relationship. And he was still in a relationship with Tony, despite his boyfriend’s constant low level fear that Steve was going to leave him at any given moment for any number of silly reasons.

Looking at Tony, hounded by his own fears and their lack of progress in finding Phoenix, Steve made a decision. “Come back to bed with me, we can talk more in the morning.”

Tony looked back hesitantly at the holograms, “But–”

Steve, however, would not have Tony finagling his way out of sleep and back to work, “JARVIS, if you would please save all the work Tony’s been doing and shut down the workshop?”

“Of course, Captain Rogers. Workshop shut down protocols initiated,” JARVIS’s synthetic voice carried no hint of shame as the holograms around Tony started blinking out of existence, the overhead lights beginning to shut down a moment later.

“Betrayal,” Tony muttered into Steve’s chest when Steve scooped him into his arms.

Steve smiled, kissing Tony lightly on the head, “Come on, sweetheart. Time to rest.”

Tony leaned into Steve as they walked to the elevator, pressing himself as close as possible to Steve’s larger frame. Steve could practically feel Tony’s brain going through its own version of the shut down protocols, looking on as Tony focused more and more on being with Steve and less and less about the looming threat.

“Thank you, Steve,” Tony mumbled as they exited the elevator.

Steve arched an eyebrow, palming the handle to Tony’s room as the door went through the process of verifying his access, “What for?”

Tony’s smile was small for all the warmth and love that the gesture emanated, “For keeping me sane. For,” Tony took a breath, “for not giving up even though I haven’t been the best of boyfriends.”

“Tony, look–” Steve started, only to be silenced by a kiss as Tony leaned up and pulled Steve down into his lips.

“I wouldn’t have gotten through this without you,” Tony said softly after he broke the kiss. “I…I just wanted to tell you that I love you.”

Something in Steve’s chest blazed with joy and light and sorrow and love and pain all at once, and the only thing Steve could do in reaction was smash his lips against Tony’s and try and pour everything he felt into the action. Tony had danced around saying the words for a while, though he had certainly hinted at it often enough. But for Tony to say it without reservation like that was enough to set Steve alight.

“I love you, too,” Steve breathed back before crushing their lips together again. “I love you so so much, Tony.”

Steve dragged Tony back to the bed, twisting them around so he pushed Tony onto the covers. Tony immediately wrapped his legs around Steve, somehow having magically rid himself of his shoes on their way to the bed. It was when Steve’s fingers reached for Tony’s pants, however, that Tony jerked back and paused.

“Steve?” Tony’s voice was hesitant as he examined Steve with keen eyes, all signs of sleep deprivation and exhaustion banished for the moment.

Steve smiled kissed Tony quickly on the nose, “I’m sure, Tony.”

Tony held Steve’s eyes for a long charged moment before smiling softly, apparently having found whatever it was he had been looking for. He arched back into Steve, molding their lips together for another hot kiss, his hands moving from Steve’s arms to twine around his neck.

Steve leaned forward into Tony, tasting his lips even as Steve’s fingers worked at Tony’s pants. He had never felt more alive, more nervous, more confident.

“Steve, baby,” Tony smiled as he used his legs to roll them around so he was straddling Steve, whose legs were dangling off the side of the bed. Tony was seated firmly in Steve’s lap, hips moving at a torturous pace. “Relax. Tonight’s about you.”

“Then why are we wasting time talking?” Steve asked. He didn’t think it was fair of Tony to have been propositioning and teasing and flirting all of this time if he was just going to hold off on the main course now. Steve had known that Tony was a flirt with a stubborn streak bordering on indomitable, but this was just too much.

Tony just smiled, stripping himself out of his shirt in one fluid motion that had the shirt half way across the room in a heartbeat. Steve’s breath caught in his throat as Tony took Steve’s hands in his own and moved them across Tony’s torso. “Tell me what you want, Steve.” Tony said, “I want to hear the words before we go any farther.”

Steve swallowed. Tony’s eyes were burning him up. “You, Tony,” the words were summoned by Steve’s mouth by those eyes. “Always you.”

Tony smiled, something loving and hungry all at once, “Ask, love,” Steve shivered, “and ye shall receive.” Steve couldn’t take it any longer. He flipped them back over, pulling Tony up and then reorienting them both so that they were both on the bed. Tony just smiled again, pulling Steve into a long slow kiss.

“Now how about you let me show you just how much I love you?”

* * *

Steve woke to what was most probably the most beautiful sight he had ever seen. Tony was curled up against him, his face planted firmly in Steve’s chest, while one of Steve’s arms was thrown over him. Steve smiled despite his sleep addled stupor and squeezed Tony closer to him. Tony, for his part, merely muttered before settling more securely into Steve’s chest.

Waking up with Tony had become a rare thing for Steve. Tony often woke up before even Steve now, driven by obsession and worry to keep tracking down Phoenix. And, while Tony still participated in the morning runs with Steve, Bucky, and Sam, it had been made abundantly clear during those runs that Tony was starting to suffer from all the late nights and early mornings.

It made Steve doubly happy that Tony was still sleeping safe and secure in his arms. Steve reveled in the memories of the night he had shared with Tony. The intimacy, the connection, the feeling of Tony, and most of all, the unadulterated love, was enough to send an aftershock of joy, and something a little carnal, shooting through Steve. Tony mumbled sleepily and wiggled his hips against Steve, causing Steve’s persistent afterglow to shift to something more carnal rather than just a little.

Apparently, Steve’s wiggling was enough to wake his boyfriend and lover. Tony’s eyes cracked open, a soft smile stretching across his features, “Hello there handsome. Have some pleasant dreams?”

Steve smiled in turn, bending his neck to plant a kiss square on the tip of Tony’s nose, “I dunno. Kind of feels like I’m still dreaming, to be honest.”

“I know the feeling,” Tony said softly, a shadow of remembered fear flickering across his features.

Steve sighed, “Well, I guess we’re both lucky to be awake, then.”

Tony’s voice was soft, and more than a little bewildered, “We are.”

Steve snuggled closer to Tony, “I love you, Tony.”

Tony blinked, “I – me too.” The words should have been underwhelming. But the hoarse timbre of Tony’s voice, the soft edges to Tony’s eyes as they locked with Steve, told Steve the truth of the matter. Tony was in love with him, even more than he had been last night. Steve smiled at the thought that he had shared something with Tony beyond simple sex, if how it affected his boyfriend was any indication.

Not that the sex was bad.

In point of fact, Steve was feeling awfully open to more sex.

Steve was about to express his sentiment with more than just words, only to find his boyfriend out of his arms and headed towards the bathroom. While his boyfriend was gloriously naked, he was also too far away for Steve’s liking.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked, propping himself up on his elbows and forearms and fixing Tony with his eyes.

Tony turned half around, his shoulders twisting so that he could face Steve while Tony’s rather round behind still faced Steve. “I was going to take a shower, maybe get started on some breakfast before the run so we don’t have to do all that much when we get back. What did you want to eat?”

Steve felt a smile bloom across his face at Tony’s domesticity. His boyfriend was clearly trying. “I was thinking we might stay in a bit today,” Steve said, feeling his face flush with the implication he was making.

Tony cocked his head to the side for a moment before a sly smile spread across his face and he started heading back towards the bathroom, his hips swaying gently from side to side as he walked, “We can’t have our American Icon be lazy. Got to get up and at ‘em and get started for the new day!”

Steve frowned as Tony marched into the bathroom. Without him, “Tony! Do you want me to join you in the shower?”

Tony’s voice called back just as the sound of running water began, “I hardly think that would be appropriate. We wouldn’t want our relationship to be just about sex, right?”

Steve’s eyes rolled his eyes at the playful lilt in Tony’s voice, “Tony, I don’t think that’s going to be an issue.”

Tony started humming something similar to what Steve had heard him play on the piano.

“Tony?”

The humming continued.

“Tony.”

The humming took on a rather scandalous quality. It was accompanied by similarly scandalous noises.

“Tony! Answer me, or God help me–”

Tony’s laughter interrupted Steve’s threat, “Well, how about _you_ come in here and help _me_ , then.”

Steve huffed, a smile creeping up on him despite himself as he trudged into the bathroom after his boyfriend.

* * *

 

Steve was caught between gratified that Tony was still in the kitchen and somewhat worried that Tony was back at work. Tony, after they had finished showering, had stayed true to his word and had gone down to the kitchen to get some ingredients together for breakfast before their morning run. Everything had gone well – Tony had seemed lighter while they were running, smiling even as he cursed Steve passing him, and had flirted incessantly once they had gotten back and started on breakfast in earnest – up until the morning briefing. Maria had outlined a hit by Phoenix, this time targeting North Korea.

Steve wasn’t sure what to make of it. Phil and S.H.I.E.L.D. had been on the scene to capture some operatives. What he had relayed to Maria indicated that Phoenix genuinely believed it was doing good in the world. They were trying to free the oppressed, bring down tyrants, and uplift the world. The captured Phoenix agent had, apparently, spoken her piece before overloading her advanced weaponry and committing suicide, depriving Phil of both Phoneix’s technology and a valuable source of information.

Steve would have applauded Pheonix’s goals under other circumstances, and he could even see where they diverged from Hydra. Where Hydra had wanted to force the world into order, believed that humanity had no right to self-govern, Phoenix was the exact opposite, insisting that all people had the right to determination. While they had never stated it openly, it appeared that they believed the path to such freedom was to be laid by technology, given their increasingly advanced tactics and weaponry, most of which appeared to be taken from a cache of Tony’s schematics and designs. But that was the part that Steve couldn’t stomach. While they had inflicted low level civilian casualties, due in most part to their advanced weapons, they had still slaughtered government functionaries and associated individuals without mercy or reserve. Steve had no doubt some of those officials had made the hard choice of feeding their loved ones over their own morality, and while Steve wouldn’t have made the same choice himself, he certainly couldn’t blame others for it.

Steve looked at his own loved one and suppressed a sigh.

Tony had almost completely shut down after Maria had detailed the fact that Phoenix had, essentially, started an armed uprising in North Korea after they had crippled the North Korean army in a series of bombings. Most of the North Korean military bases were destroyed, and the sites of the bombings were nothing more than remarkably well contained craters in the ground. Of course, this had apparently included bombing all of the North Korean Leader’s Residences. Phoenix had simultaneously bombed dozens of targets in order to ensure Kim Jong Un’s death. Steve had to give them credit for thoroughness if nothing else.

Now North Korea was a seething sea of violence and civil unrest.

And Tony was blaming himself.

Steve had washed the dishes on his own while Tony had picked through a constellation of images and data rising up from the holographic dining table. Steve stole glances as Tony’s face became steadily devoid of emotion until he was looking through the points of data with a mask that hurt Steve to see. He had known that, of all of the Avengers, Tony was taking Phoenix the most personally, both because of Dr. Morbius’s infiltration of his workshop as well as what appeared to be the theft of a large portion of his weapons designs, but Steve couldn’t take this any longer. He had let Tony run with his obsession and fears long enough.

“We’re going out today,” Steve said as he finished drying off his hands and wrapped his arms around tony.

Tony blinked, turning his head slightly so that he could pay attention to Steve while still poking and prodding at the data that was flying across the table, “Steve–”

Steve bowled over whatever excuse or deflection Tony was about to bring to bear, “I’m worried about you, Tony. You’ve been obsessing over Phoenix for too long. You helped pull my head out of my ass when we were chasing after Hydra, and now it’s my turn to do the same for you. I’m not letting Phoenix get in the way of living my life any more, and I’m not going to let them ruin what would be a great night on the town because you’re too worried about where they might strike next. We can’t control what they do and we’re still going to live our lives.”

The shadows that had been gathering over Tony’s face lightened for a moment, “Would you believe that I was going to ask if you wanted to go and check out the Met?”

Steve snorted, “Not for a second. But it’s a nice enough thought.”

Tony’s lips quirked into a small smirk, “JARVIS, my man, you mind getting us some tickets to go and see the inner whatever of some deeply emotional people?”

Steve laughed at Tony’s phrasing and the attempt, at least, of light hearted humor before dragging his boyfriend back upstairs so that they could get ready for an afternoon out on the town. Steve was heartened when they managed to get ready and get out the doors of the tower with minimal distractions, aside from a couple of instances of heated kissing. Blessedly, there were no paparazzi in sight, JARVIS no doubt doing his diligence in keeping the carrion eaters away.

For the first time since Phoenix had come on scene, Steve allowed himself to be lost in a moment of time. With Tony by his side, he toured the different collections and pieces the Met had to offer, marveling at all the amazing artwork bottled up in one place. To Steve’s surprise, Tony was remarkably respectful, and even interested in some of the pieces. They talked quietly about some of the time periods the art had come from, the styles, what they meant for the times of the people who had lived then. It was an amazing feeling, having Tony interested in something he loved so very much, and almost as wonderful as when he had joined Tony for their ceramics date, something that they would have to do again soon.

The pair of them brushed shoulders as they walked the streets afterwards. Steve was glad he had let Tony convince him to let an unmarked company car drive them out, as they could just walk through the city and enjoy the sights without having to worry about getting transportation that was just a phone call away.

Steve had just gotten the both of them some hot dogs when everything went to hell in a hand basket. Tony was taking a bite out of his hotdog while fixing Steve with a look that sent dozens of images through Steve’s head that were not at all suitable for public consumption when something derailed the both of them from their time with one another.

A Doombot rounded the corner and began to open fire.

Steve ran towards the Doombot, stripping his “backpack” off and ripping the coverlet away from his shield while Tony dove for cover and doubtless summoned his armor to him.

“A communicator would be nice, Tony!” Steve shouted as he ran in front of a running mother and child, using his shield to deflect some weapons fire from the Doombot.

“It was in your backpack! Front pocket!” Tony shouted back as he ran over to the hotdog cart, which had already been abandoned by the proprietor.

“Well,” Steve growled as he hurled his shield towards the Doombot, cutting its head clean off, “maybe you should have told me that earlier!” Another Doombot rounded the corner and Steve sighed internally. The Avengers didn’t deal with the things often, but they were always numerous and always annoying.

The hotdog cart bowled into the Doombot, thought it caused the machine to pause only for a moment before turning towards Tony, who had sent the cart in the Doombot’s direction. The Doombot leveled its weapon at Tony, and Steve felt his heart jump in his throat while his stomach plummeted to his boots. He wasn’t going to get there in time, Tony was going to–

The hotdog cart went up in flames, taking the Doombot with it in a small explosion.

Steve huffed and scooped up his previously discarded backpack just as Tony’s armor rocketed through the sky and shot towards Tony, quickly wrapping Tony in a metal exoskeleton. Steve opened up the front pocket of the backpack, the largest compartment having been ripped apart to unlimber his shield quickly, and found the small black nub that Tony had developed for the Avengers to use in the field.

Steve put it in his ear even as he glared at his boyfriend, “That was reckless, Tony.”

The faceplate popped up as Tony gave Steve a lascivious wink and a grin, “Hey, you know me, I’m never one to let sausages like that go to waste.”

“Oh god. The coms are sacred, Stark. Stop it before my ears start to bleed,” Clint’s voice was pained as he spoke to Tony.

Steve rolled his eyes, “Cut the chatter. ETA?”

Clint grumbled about Mom being no fun while Natasha answered, “We’re dealing with some Doombots of our own. Some of them are attempting to hit the Tower. Some SI employees took some gadgets out to meet them, and other Doombots are going haywire and turning on eachother. Clint and I are mopping up to ensure no one gets hurt.”

Steve watched as Tony visibly relaxed at the words, “Thanks, Natashalie.”

Steve could hear the quirk of Natasha’s lips in her words, “You’re welcome.”

“We’re on our way to your location, Steve. ETA is three minutes,” Bucky said over the comms. Bucky had no doubt hitched a ride with Sam if he was incoming that fast.

“Acknowledged. I want Bruce, Jane, and Selvig to work on a technological solution to the Doombots with JARVIS. If the IT department can crack some of them, I’m sure you’ll have something. Once Bucky and Falcon get here, we’re going to sweep towards their origin point and clear them out, Falcon and Iron man in the sky and Bucky and me on the ground.”

Steve heard a chorus of replies from his com device before he and Tony were accosted by another Doombot. They dispatched it quickly, Steve distracting it from below while Tony shot a repulsor blast through the Doombot’s head.

Bucky and Sam arrived shortly afterwards, allowing them to implement their plans. The four of the started sweeping towards the shoreline, where the Doombats had come from, while they left Thor, Clint, and Natasha to keep the innards of the city safe from any stragglers that got through their net.

What they found at the shore, though, was surprising.

Phoenix was engaging the Doombots, while S.H.I.E.L.D. was there as well, attempting to corral both enemy groups at once. Steve and the other Avengers leapt into action.

“Widow, Hawkeye, Thor. Finish up with the Doombots in the city limits and get over to the shoreline. We have are engaging Doombots and Phoenix along with S.H.I.E.L.D. and need immediate assistance. I repeat, we are engaging Phoenix and require assistance.” Steve called the rest of the Avengers in, hoping that this could be their big break.

The Avengers fought with more furor than usual, Steve noticed. They had all been frustrated by their inability to catch the trails laid by Dr. Morbius, to say nothing of Tony, who appeared to be taking his frustration out on as many Phoenix agents as he could get his repulsors on. Tony streaked over the battlefield rapidly and repeatedly, blasting both Phoenix and Latverian forces with extreme precision. Against the humans Tony stuck to repulsors, but Tony had apparently decided to let loose with the full might of his arsenal on the Doombots. Beams of sharp energy, small missiles, and strange weapons that Jules Verne would have been hard pressed to imagine rained destruction down on the battlefield.

“Three guesses as to how Stark’s feeling about now. And the first two don’t count,” Sam muttered into his com as he mopped up the stragglers that Tony had left for the rest of them.

Bucky snorted as he watched Tony land on the amphibious craft Phoenix appeared to have used to land, “No guesses. Man’s pissed off worse than a wet cat. You’re going to have your work cut out for you, Stevie.”

Steve fought a blush as he faulted on top of a Doombot, slicing its head clean from its shoulders and kicking it into a Phoenix agent, “Chatter!”

“Hey, don’t finish without us!” Clint bemoaned over the coms. “I want to pull some burning tail feathers, too, you know.”

Thor’s rumbling voice was amused, “I should think the Man of Iron most aggrieved by Phoenix’s duplicitous actions. Perhaps, if we are to continue our competition, we had best make haste to the battlefield.”

Steve sighed as Tony lifted back off from the ship. It exploded a second later. Steve winced, but was glad that Tony had at least decided to remove himself from the blast radius this time, unlike that time he had destroyed the staff in the Hydra facility. It was a fair bet that Steve had never seen Tony quite so angry before, not even when he they had exchanged harsh words on the hellicarier under the staff’s influence.

Thor, Natasha, and Clint arrived quickly, helping them mop up the straggling Doombots. Unsurprisingly, it was the Phoenix forces that caused the most trouble. Some of them took to the air to dance in a deadly aerial ballet with Thor, Sam, and Tony, lifting off the ground with what looked like small jetpacks.

Some of the others seemed to have mechanized scaffolding attached to their limbs, giving them an extra edge in hand to hand fights. Steve hadn’t found a group of opponents quite that challenging in quite a while, and it was unsurprising that Phil’s new S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had been having a hard time containing them before Steve and the other Avengers had arrived.

The ones Steve had found most annoying, however, were the ones that appeared to be wearing optical camouflage equipment. It was almost as if the light seemed to slide off of them as they fought, half there and half somewhere else at the same time.

What Steve saw everywhere, though, the telltale artistic hand of Tony Stark.

It was in the curves of the jetpacks, the efficiency of the lines of the mechanized exolimbs, and even the smooth transitions of the optical camouflage. They were all designs that Tony had tinkered with. Steve was reminded of a whisper of Natasha’s when they had first met up after the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and were bringing the Avengers back together. She had told him that Tony had been a consultant not because of whatever it was that Tony could contribute to S.H.I.E.L.D. operations, but instead, that Fury had wanted to keep an eye on Tony however he could.

Fighting against the ghosts of Tony’s inventions left and right, Steve could understand that sentiment.

“Stark, why don’t I have a jetpack and camo gear?” Clint whined from his perch on a building, sending an arrow unerringly through a woman’s jetpack, causing her to flight to splutter as she slowly descended towards the ground. Clint had to abandon his perch when, a moment later, the woman’s wingmate dive bombed Clint’s former perch with an energy rifle of some kind.

“Because, birdbrain,” Tony said as he caught Clint after his fall from the building, “I don’t’ want to encourage your bad habit of jumping off buildings. And you and the Spider over there are sneaky enough without me adding to it.”

Clint snorted as Tony deposited him on a new roof, “Fine. Then what about those cool exo-thingies? I mean, couldn’t you turn Bucky’s arm into a wrecking ball or something?”

Tony snorted as he flew away, sniping the wingmate that had forced Clint from his perch with a repulsor blast as he did so, “Well, now that you mention it, I guess I could tinker with that arm a bit. It is looking kind of dull, I guess.”

Bucky crushed the servos on one of the CQC specialist’s exo-gear, “Bite me, Iron Man. The last time you ‘tinkered’ with my arm it wouldn’t stop baking pies unless we were on duty!”

“Ah, but such glorious confections they were! I greatly miss them, James. Are you certain you would not allow the Man of Iron another opportunity to work marvels with your arm?” Thor spoke wistfully as he summoned some lightning, striking down the rest of the enemy fliers.

“What the hell?” Tony’s voice broke into the argument, his voice tight and strained.

Steve turned around, searching out whatever it was that had Tony so distraught.

S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had taken the field again, only this time, they were sporting energy weapons. There were only a couple of enemy agents left, and there were only one or two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents with the weapons, but Steve ran a little cold at the notion that Phil had lied to them. Again.

“Tony,” Natasha said firmly, “we can deal with that after we’re done with Phoenix. First, we have to–”

“Fuck that,” was all Tony had to say.

Tony barreled through the last enemy CQC specialist, crushing his gear as he did. Steve and Bucky had cornered the last camouflage specialist, and finished up just in time to hear a scream from one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents.

“Where the hell did you get those?” Tony’s mechanized voice came from the Iron Man suit. There was something dark there that Steve didn’t want to examine too closely.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. agent babbled semi-incoherently. He had dropped the weapon, which Tony stepped on with a resounding crunch.

“Don’t make me ask you again!” Tony’s voice had fallen rather than rise, and Steve and the others gathered around slowly, careful not to make any sudden moves. The agent was a young man in a suit jacket. Tony had bodily lifted him up from the ground by his collar. The agent’s eyes darted to the Avengers, wide and glazed. He was hyperventilating and sweating profusely, his hands grabbing at Tony’s wrists.

“I–Ah–Please. Please help me!”

“Tony,” Steve’s voice was soft.

Tony let out a growl of frustration, but released the agent to crumple unceremoniously to the ground. He turned towards the other S.H.I.E.L.D. agent who appeared to be on the verge of slinking away, only to have Clint clap him on the shoulder, “Come on, now. Let’s give the angry metal baby his toys back, then we won’t have to worry about an arc reactor fuelled tantrum, yeah?”

The agent Clint had his arm on nodded shakily and dropped the weapon. Tony shot it with a repulsor before turning away from them, “Find out where they got this. I’m going to call Maria in to clean up the rest of Phoenix’s tech.”

Tony walked away, the armor’s movements fast and jerky. Though Steve couldn’t see Tony underneath the armor, Steve was certain Tony was stiff and wracked with tension. Steve didn’t really want to think about the implications of how S.H.I.E.L.D. agents had Phoenix weapons when Phil had told them repeatedly that they had never recovered any. Any technology that had remained after a Phoenix attack was usually too damaged to use, but Tony still sent an SI clean-up crew to ensure nothing remained in addition to helping the affected areas get back on their feet whenever possible.

Steve was left to wonder if Phil had lied to them yet again.

“He’s pretty wound up right now,” Natasha said to the agent that Tony had been dealing with earlier. “I don’t think he’d be very happy to hear the two of you are keeping information about these weapons, do you?” Her voice was even and steady as she looked over at the quivering agent with a small smirk.

The agent swallowed and shook his head.

“So,” Natasha continued smoothly, “wouldn’t it be better to cooperate? Phil will never know you had anything to do with it. Just tell us where he is and we’ll go have a chat with him ourselves. You won’t be brought up at all. No one has to know you brought those weapons out when the fighting turned rough. It’ll be fine.”

The agent’s gaze darted to Natasha and then back to the floor, “He. Um. He’s on the bus. There’s a private airport nearby. He’ll be there.”

Natasha gave the agent a small smile, “Thank you for your cooperation.”

The agent and his partner scurried away with their metaphorical tails between their legs.

“How do you want to handle this, Cap?” Sam asked as he watched the two agents run with a smirk.

“I don’t want to think that Phil has been lying to us,” Steve said slowly, “but this is worrying. If he’s been recovering Phoenix tech and hasn’t been letting us know, then we’re going to have a problem. Not the least of which is because it was stolen from Tony in the first place.”

Bucky rolled his eyes, “It’s not like the suit hasn’t lied to you before. And wasn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. up to the gills in Hydra anyway?”

Clint’s eyes narrowed and he took a threatening step towards Bucky, “Watch what you say, Barnes. Only one of us here is a former Hydra agent.”

The smile Bucky flashed Clint was all teeth, “I was brainwashed by a giant machine that electrocuted my brain until I couldn’t think straight,” Steve winced the reminder of what Bucky had been put through. Bucky was always reluctant to speak of what had been done to him under Hydra control, though Tony and Bruce had been able to piece a lot of it together from the Hydra information leaked to the world when they had been on the path to helping Bucky. “What’s your boy’s excuse?”

“Alright, that’s enough,” Steve said firmly. Clint and Bucky took a step back from one another, nodding to one another in a vague sort of apology.

“I’ve got a bead on Phil and the bus. I’m going to pay him a little visit about this.” Tony said. His voice was soft and cold and all too devoid of emotion for Steve to be anything but worried.

Steve put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, “I’m going with you. We have to get to the bottom of this if we’re going to trust Phil going forward.”

Tony nodded. Clint looked vaguely uncomfortable, while Natasha moved just a little bit more than she was wont to do. It was as close as she ever got to emoting her discomfort with a situation. Steve remembered keenly what it had been like when the two agents found that their friend was alive and well, the two of them trapped between the joy of him not being dead and the betrayal that he hadn’t told them. As several Quinjets arrived to offload personnel to clean up the fight and take the Avengers to where Phil had parked his Bus, Steve could only hope that this didn’t turn into a mess of similar proportions.

* * *

 

Tony walked far too calmly out of the Quinjet.

He made a beeline for Phil’s Bus, a pitch black plane with its cargo door opened, allowing all of the Avengers easy access. Skye was waiting for them in the door, her eyes darting to each of the Avengers quickly before settling on Tony.

She tried for a smile, “Mr. Stark. Fancy seeing you here, huh? Crazy stuff with those Phoenix guys. And all that. Yeah.”

Tony’s faceplate remained in place, “I thought I told you to call me Tony, Skye.” Tony’s voice was quiet and smooth and too collected for the warm words.

Skye, however, seemed to relax a bit none the less, “Tony, then. Phil’s been expecting you guys. Follow me?”

The Avengers followed Skye almost wordlessly, though Clint and Natasha’s bent heads suggested they were whispering something to one another about the predicament they had found themselves in. They made it to Phil’s office without much commotion, Phil dismissing Skye with a smile as the Avengers filed in.

Tony dropped himself into the chair opposite Phil, crossing his legs and tapping his fingers against the arm rest, a picture of casual intimidation and easy force. Steve clenched his hands. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be going. Phil was their _friend_ for Christ’s sake. “Tony,” Steve started, but Tony wasn’t hearing it.

“You’re a friend, Phil.” Tony said, ignoring Steve, though his words mirrored Steve’s thoughts. And Steve could hear something, through the modulation of the faceplate that Tony had yet to raise. He could hear it, and he knew Phil could hear it, and he could see Phil straighten ever so slightly, despite the fact he was still meeting Tony’s gaze, what little of it he could, with a calm detachment that bespoke superiority and the upper hand. “So I’m going to give you this one chance.” Tony said quietly, his calm seeming to match Phil’s if not for that trembling something that Steve couldn’t identify hiding just beneath.

“Give me a chance to what, Stark?” Phil asked, as if he were genuinely curious.

“Come clean, of course. I know you have people working on the weapons you took. I know you have schematics of them in the Bus. I know Skye already has them encrypted. Give me the weapons or destroy them, and delete the schematics. Now.” Tony’s voice was emotionless, now. Pure and utter tranquility.

Phil sighed, as if he were indulging a particularly petulant whim, “You won’t be surprised to hear that I can’t, and won’t, do that, Stark. We’re still rebuilding. And like I said before, we don’t need you that much.” Phil smiled slightly, as if they were sharing a joke. Natasha and Clint started to tense.

“One chance, Phil.” Tony said quietly.

Natasha interrupted, “I don’t think this is a good idea, Tony.”

Clint piped up, “Come on, man, it’s just a couple of guns. Just let him and his techs play with them, yeah? I mean, what’s the harm?”

“The harm is that those are gateway weapons. They were designed to make them easy to upgrade, to improve. They were designed to lead the way to bigger and badder and more destructive weapons. And they’re _mine_.” Tony’s voice was still calm, though Steve could feel everyone else in the room tense up.

“And what will you do if I say no, Stark?” Phil asked, reaching for something underneath his desk.

“I will put an end to this before it has a chance to start back up again,” Steve had never heard Tony’s voice so blank.

“Tony, I think you might be overreacting,” Sam started, but Bucky cut in.

“So, you all think it’s just swell that this Dr. Morbius is stealing Tony’s tech? You think it’s all good and right, now, to just steal it for yourselves, too? It’s his shit. Give it back.” Bucky’s voice was laced with a degree of incredulity that Steve hadn’t heard for a long time. And something in him agreed. This was Tony’s legacy. They all knew the lengths he had gone to keep his weapons from the hands of those who would misuse them. But this was Phil. Certainly Tony could trust Phil?

“Verily,” Thor agreed. “These weapons are the domain of the Man of Iron, Son of Coul. If he should demand them back, then such is his right.”

Bruce didn’t say anything, which didn’t surprise Steve at all. Out of all of them, Bruce probably understood Tony’s rationale the best, from a scientific perspective. Next to Tony, Bruce was the most experienced in having his own work destroy lives, and felt the compulsion to do whatever it took to keep it from escalating. God only knew that Steve feared what would happen if, one day, someone reverse engineered the serum from his blood. Steve didn’t think he would be able to bear the weight of an army of super soldiers on his conscience.

“Your answer, Phil.” Tony’s voice was soft.

Phil looked over the Avengers, probably wondering which of them would try and stop Tony and push him to see “reason” if Phil did not agree to hand over the weapons. Steve wondered where he would end up, as Phil looked at him. Yes, he loved Tony. But he couldn’t let that influence his judgment. When he had destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. the first time, it had been because they had taken technology that had too much potential for misuse to the logical extreme. And here Tony was, trying to stop that happening again. But it wasn’t just hellicarriers, this time. It was weapons Tony had designed.

Phil gave Tony a look that reminded Steve far too much of an elder dealing with an obstreperous teenager who refused to see reason, “I won’t give them to you, Stark. We need them to keep up with–” Phil’s speech died as the lights flickered.

“Phil!” Skye screamed as she threw the door open to Coulson’s office. “All of our systems have been compromised! Everything’s gone!”

“Star–” Phil’s imprecation was again cut off, this time by the sound of an explosion.

“Report!” Phil barked at his communicator, staring at Tony as if seeing him for the first time.

“The lab is blown,” May’s voice responded immediately. “Fitz and Simmons weren’t there, but all of the weapons we recovered are done. Power systems look like they’re going to overload. Phil. The entire bus is going to blow.”

They were all looking at Tony in horror now. “Tony, I think you’ve made your point.” Phil said quietly.

“Have I, Phil? Or are you just going to patronize me some more?” Tony asked as if he were genuinely interested, his head tilted to one side, and Steve cursed the face plate for hiding Tony from him. He needed to see what Tony was thinking, what he was feeling. But he knew he wouldn’t let Tony go too far.

“Tony, please.” Steve said quietly.

Tony tilted his head to the other side.

“Bus is looking good,” May’s voice came on over the intercom again a second later.

Phil turned to Tony in a rage, standing and leaning over the desk towards Tony, “If you ever think about–!”

Tony interrupted him as if he had never spoken, “Let me make one thing abundantly clear to you, _Agent_.” Tony stressed the pet name with quiet rage swathed in implacable calm, “I consider you a friend. Even when you threatened me in my own home while I was literally hours away from death. Even when you wouldn’t let me out of my own home, as I was dying, for something as simple as a cup of coffee. Even when you patronize and antagonize and degrade what I am doing. I think of you as a friend. I really do.” Tony’s voice was sincere, everyone in the room heard it, “But, if you think for a second that I’m willing to let you get away with stealing from me, after everything else, then you’re wrong. And if you pull this shit again, _Phil_ ,” Tony’s voice softened as he said Phil’s name, “I will make what Steve did to S.H.I.E.L.D. look like a kindness. No one gets to steal my tech, especially when they have no idea what they’re dealing with.”

Tony stood up, Phil sitting down as Tony rose. “JARVIS? Clean any and all Twenty Seven compliant data out of their systems. Feel free to give them back the rest.”

“Of course, Sir.” JARVIS’s voice came through the plane’s speakers.

“Let me know if you need help fixing anything up,” Tony said as he walked out of Phil’s office, brushing past Skye.

Phil slumped into his seat, expressing more emotion than Steve had thought the man capable of, “Any of you know why he flew off the handle like that?”

Clint sighed, “To be honest, sir? Yeah. And you really dropped the ball on this one. You really thought Stark was just going to be okay with you appropriating weapons based on his designs?”

Phil’s mouth tightened, “He shouldn’t have even known we had them.”

Natasha sighed, “Don’t make the mistake of underestimating him again, Phil. I did, when I did his evaluation for the Avengers. Look how that turned out.”

Phil massaged his temples, “I knew he would be angry, of course, I just thought…”

Bucky spat to the side, “You thought he would be good with someone he thought was his friend stealing from him? Stealing his life’s work? Man, no wonder Hydra screwed you over seven ways from Sunday. I’ll meet you back at the Tower, Stevie.” Bucky left after that, as well, taking Banner with him, who was content to simply shake his head at Phil.

Thor turned to leave as well, lingering in the doorway for a moment, “You disappoint me greatly, Son of Coul. I had thought you a man of greater honor than this.” And then he was gone, his cape trailing out the door.

“Do you think you could negotiate with Stark? Get him to give us something else instead?” Phil asked the rest of them, clearly hoping to find a way to make up his losses.

Sam just arched an eyebrow, “You didn’t think to open with that? ‘Cause that might have been a good idea, just saying.” Sam shook his head, “You know what? I’m out of here. I’m done.” Sam followed the rest out.

“Sam has a point, sir. You kind of did just take a piss on everything Tony’s been trying to do since becoming Iron Man.” Clint said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Phil massaged his eyes, “Would you believe I did it for the greater good?”

Steve spoke now, his voice quiet, “I’m sure Fury thought the same thing, when he approved the Insight Project. And I’ll ask for you, Phil. Just try to remember not to cut him out of the loop next time you find something that belongs to him.” And then Steve was walking out the door as well. He had hoped, when Phil had revealed himself to be alive and the head of a new and improved S.H.I.E.L.D. that they would be better than before. With Phil there, Steve had hoped that they would avoid some of the shortcuts Fury, and probably Howard, had made in the name of progress and peace. This was just a bump, and from Steve’s point of view, an excusable one. Phil was probably buckling under the stress of working with a skeleton crew trying to do a job that had taken all of S.H.I.E.L.D. in its hay day. Phil had just fallen down the rabbit hole for a moment, and Steve was sure that Tony would come to see that, too, in time.

He managed to get back to the Tower in a daze, grateful for once that the fighting had been in New York so all he had was a short flight back home. He saw everyone, sans Tony, meeting in the common room, nervous over their latest battle and its aftermath. Natasha and Clint joined them a moment later.

“How was Phil, after we left?” Bruce asked them, taking off his glasses and wiping them down.

Clint groaned, “He gets why Tony was so ticked off, he just didn’t think that the man was going to call his bluff like that. I mean, yeah, we all know Tony’s wound tight, and that his weapons are all sorts of problematic, but taking control of the bus like that? Wiping Phil’s systems? That doesn’t strike anyone as extreme?”

Natasha sat down daintily and said nothing.

Steve shrugged, “I don’t’ suppose there’s any chance that we could get Tony up here to explain himself, JARVIS?”

“I am afraid not, Captain Rogers. However, if you would all be amenable, Sir has made available certain privileged information that may shed some light on the situation for you.” JARVIS intoned smoothly.

Bucky’s brows furrowed, “Stark can’t just man up and come tell us himself?”

“Sir is currently attempting to tack down more Twenty Seven compliant technology. He has indicated he will answer any questions I am unable to field when he is certain there is none remaining.” JARVIS did sound contrite, and Steve was, for once, inclined to believe Tony about him coming out of his lab on time. But worse, there was an undercurrent of worry in JARVIS’s synthesized voice that set Steve on edge.

“What is it you mean by complying with the numbers Twenty and Seven, my friend? Is this of special significance to Anthony?” Thor asked, clipping Mjölnir to his hip before sitting down. Steve was happy to see that the rest of the Avengers were starting to settle down as well. They all knew Tony well enough by now to know there had to be a reason for an outburst like that, rather than just going straight for being upset with him, even longtime friends of Phil, like Natasha and Clint. Hopefully Tony would be willing to give them more answers, after JARVIS was done.

“Indeed, Prince Odinson. Twenty Seven compliant technologies are a special classification of weapon for Sir. They are the weapons he designed and envisioned for a very specific set of potential circumstances, but were not to become available for any sort of use outside those same circumstances.” JARVIS began explaining.

Sam frowned, “So those energy weapons Phoenix was using. The high energy explosives. All of it?”

“You are correct, Mr. Wilson,” JARVIS confirmed. “Sir has always been extremely careful with access to such technology. Even I do not have full access to the Twenty Seven compliant files for extended periods of time.”

Steve frowned at that, “Tony trusts you with anything, JARVIS.”

“Indeed, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS said, a bit of humor leaking into the AI’s voice. “I did not intend to imply I believed Sir to be untrusting of myself. Rather, it was meant to show you the severity of Sir’s worry regarding this particular family of schematics.”

Bruce frowned, “Why keep the schematics at all, if he’s so worried about them? Why not just destroy them outright? Why keep making new ones?”

“Because there might be a day when we really do need shit like that, Brucie Bear,” Tony said, walking towards them. “I don’t want to know what that day will look like, but I’d hate to be unprepared.”

Clint arched an eyebrow at Tony, “What type of FUBAR situation would require you to mass produce that type of stuff?”

Tony sighed, slumping down onto the couch next to Steve. Steve cozied next to Tony for a moment, who just looked to Steve gratefully before answering, “A situation like the Chitauri portal never being closed. Like the Earth having to fight off an alien invasion too big for the likes of us to handle on our own.”

Bucky whistled lowly, “You really do plan for everything, don’t you, Stark?”

Tony shrugged, “We’ve already had one alien invasion.”

Bruce chuckled, “But these were things you’d made and designed before the Avengers had even started up.”

Tony laughed, “Yeah, well. You plop an engineering genius in front of Stark Trek at a tender and formative age, to say nothing of Star Wars or Stargate, and you’re going to get phasers and shields and other fun toys of mass destruction eventually.” Tony took a deep breath, “I also wanted to say I’m sorry.”

Steve turned to peer at Tony, “What for?”

“For, well, for everything. For Morbius getting his hands on my tech in the first place. For blowing up at Phil. For causing this entire _goddamn_ **mess**.” Tony seemed angry again, but everyone in the room knew the signs of self-loathing when the saw them. None of them were strangers to the emotion, though it always appeared that Tony was afflicted more than the rest of them.

“Hey, man,” Sam said gently. “It’s not your fault. You may not believe it, but we do. Yeah, the whole threaten to blow up Coulson’s spy plane thing was a bit much. But you were pissed. We get that. And, to be fair, he gave you a reason. Just don’t do it again, alright?” Sam said, giving Tony a smile.

Tony looked up at Sam, giving him a weak snort of laughter, “Yeah, well, I can’t promise not to do it again. But I’ll try to give you guys a heads up next time, at least.”

Bucky snorted, “You ask me, the suit got what was coming to him.” Bucky muttered under his breath. “And don’t go all mopey and shit. You’re all tore up about the special flashy guns, we get it. They’re not all that different from Hydra weapons, back when me and Stevie were gunning for them. We dealt with it then, we’ll deal with it now.”

Tony buried his head in his hands. “Yeah. Thanks, Bond.”

“Who the hell is Bond?”

“But I think I’ve used up my quota of touchy feely for the day. I think bed is calling my name,” Tony turned to Steve. “Want to join me?”

Steve could feel his ears pink up, and the rest of the Avengers began to scramble. Steve barely registered Sam and Clint bolting, Bucky’s gentle ribbing, Natasha, Bruce and Thor’s silent approval. “Yeah.” Steve said at last. “I think I would like that.”

Tony smiled back up at him, and they headed toward the elevator, Tony leaning on him as they waited for one of the elevators to return. The rest of the Avengers had used them to bolt to their respective floors, giving them a moment alone.

“You mind if I ask one question?” Steve asked into Tony’s hair as they stepped into one of the elevators. He pulled Tony tighter against his chest as they walked in, breathing in the scent of Tony deeply, letting that adrenaline filled knot in his stomach loosen. Tony was safe and with him. Dr. Morbius wasn’t about to storm the tower and nab Tony in the dark of night.

“Shoot,” Tony said, leaning back into Steve’s chest. Tony was warm and pliant in Steve’s arms, and it never failed to send a jolt of excitement through Steve that Tony trusted him enough to just relax and unwind in his arms.

“Why Twenty Seven?” Steve asked as the elevator doors opened. They untangled to head towards Tony’s suite, though Tony kept a hold of Steve’s hand as they headed towards his rooms.

Tony sighed, “It isn’t even really valid anymore.” He muttered as he pulled the door open, the both of them heading to the bedroom.

“Still, tell me?” Steve asked.

Tony looked up at Steve ruefully, “The puppy dog eyes, huh? Fine, just stop it with the look. You’ve already got enough firepower with the whole boyfriend thing,” Steve’s chest warmed at the word boyfriend, “without needing to use your powers for evil.” Tony finished. Steve felt all the lighter for the seemingly casual acceptance Tony showed towards their relationship. It had been so hard getting to this point. He could only pray the rest was as easy as how he felt for Tony.

“It’s a reference to a poem.” Tony said after a moment, stripping out of most of his grungy t-shirt and jeans in a flurry of fluid motions and then crashing onto the bed.

“Which poem?” Steve asked as he got undressed himself. Steve watched as tony flipped over from reclining on his stomach to resting on his back, his eyes following the bunching and movement of Tony’s lithe muscles. He had felt those muscles underneath him more than once in the sparring ring. And now in a more intimate setting. Steve’s eyes traveled up to meet Tony’s own, dark with want and lust and something infinitely softer. Something that looked like love. Something Steve was certain was mirrored in his own eyes.

“Are you sure you want to talk about old poetry?” Tony asked, his voice low and rough, “I can just recite some dirty limericks about you, instead. I think that would be more appropriate.”

Steve laughed, settling into the bed next to Tony, bundling the other man to his chest, “Come on, Tony.”

Tony sighed, his breath tickling Steve’s chest, “Fine, just don’t hit me with the puppy eyes. I can’t take it.” Steve could feel Tony smiling into his skin, and Steve bent his neck to kiss the top of Tony’s head. “It was a poem I read in college. We were required to buy an anthology of poetry for the class. It was a GE.” Tony paused for a moment, “I thought I was going to hate the class, you know? English has never been my favorite subject and it was all illogical blathering and feelings and subjective and everything that science wasn’t.

“But this one woman. I was just…her poems made sense to me, I guess. I ended up buying her collective works. Read through them all in a day. But one poem in particular stuck out to me. It was poem Twenty Seven of section four of her collected works, when I bought her poems. It’s probably listed as something different now, but when I first read it, that was what it was. And it was important to me, I guess.” Tony finished, trailing circles on Steve’s chest as they cuddled.

“What was the poet’s name?” Steve asked sleepily, his eyelids drooping.

Steve felt Tony smile into his chest again, “Her name was Emily Dickinson.”

Steve blinked, “Wasn’t that the poet who–?”

“Yeah,” Tony said, his voice too quiet. “Morbius actually used the same poem, too. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but now…” Tony’s voice trailed off. Steve could feel Tony retreating in on himself, as if he were leaving Steve behind without actually going anywhere. Steve didn’t like the idea at all.

Steve gave Tony one last kiss, “We’ll figure something out. Later. Time for sleep.” It wasn’t exactly late, but Steve was exhausted. The gentle kiss and words, though, seemed to shake Tony out of his stupor.

“Alright sleepy head,” Tony laughed softly, not stopping the gentle swirls of his fingers or the small kisses. And, right before Steve dozed off, he could swear he heard the words, whispered soft and plaintive and true, “I love you.”

* * *

Steve woke in the middle of the night to a sense of pervading wrongness about his situation. Steve carefully checked his surroundings, unsure of what was missing until he noticed what was wrong.

He was cold.

Steve sat up fuzzily as he looked for Tony amid the sheets, listening for him in the bathroom, wondering where his boyfriend could have gone. A sleepy frown marred his face, “JARVIS, where’s Tony?”

Steve was met with silence.

Something similar to fear chased the dregs of sleep from Steve’s mind. He spoke his command codes out loud, and still JARVIS remained silent. Steve bolted towards the nearest access terminal to JARVIS, the one right by Tony’s bed, and input his command codes there, instead. Tony had given Steve the codes to JARVIS a little while after they had started dating, and Steve had never been more grateful for the trust that showed. Now, however, Steve was grateful for an entirely different reason.

“JARVIS?” Steve asked as the computer showed that JARVIS was up and running again.

“I am here, Captain Rogers. Thank you for restarting me. I am unsure as to how I was deactivated, but I am once again in control of my faculties.” JARVIS’s voice sounded irked at being taken out of play at all, and Steve supposed he understood. Steve wasn’t too keen on the idea of someone turning him off in order to harm his loved ones, either.

“Can you locate Tony for me, JARVIS? He’s not in bed.” Steve could hear the terror in his own voice.

JARVIS’s voice was flat, “I cannot. Additionally, I have once again been locked out of Sir’s workshop systems.”

“Assemble the Avengers, JARVIS. Converge on the workshop. Now.” Steve’s voice was hard in counterpoint to the fear and rampant worry that raged in his chest. Why was Morbius choosing now to strike? Was it because they had run out of designs and had taken Tony to make them more weapons? They had to have known that Tony would never do that, and that the last attempt to make Tony build weapons had ended in disaster.

The Avengers, once again sleep rumpled but alert, converged in the common room before they took off for the workshop as a group. The elevators and the rest of the building were clear, with only the workshop compromised. Steve hoped that Tony was still there, and that if he were in danger, they would get to him in time. Steve and the other Avengers rushed into the workshop when Steve entered his codes into the door, preparing themselves to fight off whoever it was that had captured Tony.

Tony was happily typing away, turning to beam a wide smile at the Avengers as they barged into his workshop. Tony laughed and the holographic image turned off as he stood, something resembling a globe fizzling into blue pixels. “Hello, sweetheart. What is all the fuss about?” Tony glided over towards Steve and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck, pressing a kiss to Steve’s lips.

Steve’s brows furrowed, “JARVIS was deactivated and you weren’t in bed. I got worried.”

Tony’s smile, one of the biggest and most genuinely light hearted things Steve had ever seen, grew, “Oh, I was just doing some routine maintenance on his systems. I had to deactivate him for it. That’s all.”

Bruce frowned, “You’ve done maintenance on JARVIS without shutting him down before.”

Tony waved off the comment, seemingly unconcerned, “Yes, well, it had to be done.”

Steve frowned, “JARVIS, are you alright?”

There was no reply.

Thor looked at Tony warily, “Anthony, why is your son no longer permitted access to your workplace?”

Tony laughed, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Maybe I muted him?”

“I am not muted. I have been locked out of key workshop systems.” JARVIS’s voice sounded from Bucky’s wrist.

Tony rolled his eyes, “JARVIS, dear child of mine, borrowing your sister’s things without asking isn’t nice at all.”

“I did ask. I am being actively prevented from accessing workshop systems and routed through Rebecca.” At JARVIS’s words everyone in the room tensed up again.

“What were you working on when we came down here, Stark?” Natasha asked.

Clint’s eyes narrowed, “You were awfully quick to turn off that globe thingy. It was tracking the positions of Phoenix attacks, wasn’t it?”

Tony _giggled_ , still hanging off of Steve like a vine, “Such suspicious individuals. There’s nothing at all to worry over, darlings. Shall we all go back to bed and rest? I think we have all had more than our fill of excitement and adventure for the night, don’t you all?”

“Sam,” Steve’s voice was hoarse, “go activate Tony’s workshop console, please.”

Tony huffed out a sigh, but made no move to interfere with Sam. He even joined the rest of the Avengers when they crowded around Sam, who had stopped moving once he had seen what it was that Tony had been working on. Steve blanched as he saw what it was.

Phoenix troop movements. Strategies and orders for how to best eliminate certain high profile targets. New designs and schematics to be disseminated and instructions on how to assemble them without garnering attention. It was all there.

“What is this?” Steve didn’t remember voicing the question, but it came from his lips.

Tony giggled again, “Have I not already said? It is a project of mine, dear heart.”

The rest of the Avengers had circled around Tony, who was still holding on to Steve with a smile. Steve disentangled himself gently, ignoring the sound of protest as he did so, “Who are you?”

Tony beamed a wide smile as he sat down in his chair again, “Who do I appear to you to be?”

Clint cursed, “Your eyes…”

“What about my eyes, darling? Have you fallen for my ineffable charms as well?” Tony laughed.

“They were blue. Just for a second, but they were.” Clint’s voice was haunted, and Steve could see the ghosts of memories flashing in Clint’s eyes.

Tony’s eyes twinkled with color as they faded from their warm brown to an almost unearthly blue, “Ah, trust a hawk to see what is most plain, I suppose.” Tony, or whoever it was that was, did not sound at all upset at being caught out.

“Who _are_ you?” Steve asked again, barely keeping himself from shouting the question.

The person in Tony’s body rolled his too blue eyes, “Why, I’m Tony, of course.”

“Bullshit,” Bucky spat. Steve couldn’t find it in himself to speak.

Tony’s nose wrinkled, “Well, I suppose you are correct to call ‘Bullshit’ in some sense of the word. But I am Tony, or rather, a part of Tony. But you are more than welcome to call me Dr. Morbius, if that would make it easier on you.”

Bruce sucked in a breath, “‘The Forbidden Planet,’ huh?”

Morbius – not Tony, that couldn’t be Tony – clapped his hands in genuine applause, “Ah, I knew it would be you to solve that particular riddle, Brucie Bear.”

“Don’t call me that,” Bruce growled, a touch of green spreading across his neck.

Tony tut-tutted, wagging his finger back and forth in counterpoint to the noise, “Now come, Big Green, we would not want you to lose control in so confined a space. After all, we share this body, your Tony and me.”

“Bruce, what do you know?” Steve asked. He needed to calm Bruce as much as himself, and an explanation would go a long way to figuring out what all this was.

“Dr. Morbius is a character in an old sci fi movie called ‘The Forbidden Planet.’ It’s about a crew who land there and find a hermit and his daughter who use alien technology. The hermit was Dr. Morbius, and he was partially responsible for unleashing Monsters from the Id on the space ship’s crew.” Bruce returned to his natural skin tone as he spoke, his eyes closed and his voice detached.

Sam frowned, “The Id is the part of the human psyche that represents…” Sam trailed off as he stared in Morbius in horror.

“Correct!” Tony said, spinning in his chair to face Sam, “Though the term ‘Id’ is somewhat outdated as far as modern psychology goes. You could call me the Reptile Complex. His Flight or Flight response. Whatever it is that pleases you, I am that part of him that he buries deepest. The darker longings, the animal and the instinctual. In many ways, actually, I am similar to the Hulk.”

“But you’re not nearly as strong as the Hulk, are you? Otherwise why would you be hiding from us?” Natasha asked.

Morbius laughed, “You hardly have to play me for information, my dear. Any question you ask will be more than happily answered. I was hiding simply because I was only able to control this body for short periods of time. Early on, I was weaker, a mere shadow of what I am now, base instinct run amok. Eventually, I gained the intellect my normal self is so beloved for. Then I was able to push my waking self in a direction more suitable.”

Steve felt his stomach roil, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Morbius smiled brightly as he whirled the chair around the face Steve, “Why, my love, I think you know all too well what I mean. He, I, We, are so very much in love with you. He simply refused to do anything about it. When you confronted him, he would have spurned you. He would have run. He would not have reached out and taken what he wanted because society has told him, experience has told him, that such is folly. I convinced him to take this chance,” Morbius spread his arms, “and now look at what we have wrought! Does he not love you as you love him?”

Bucky choked, “You mean to say you’re the reason Stark caved and got together with Steve so fast?”

Morbius just laughed and spun around in the chair.

Thor frowned, “It is a dark magic that would allow something so base to gain prescience over our Man of Iron. What brought you about? Speak, creature!” Thor pointed his hammer towards Morbius menacingly, though Steve knew Thor would probably never risk harming Tony’s body.

Morbius likely knew it too, given that he was distinctly unconcerned, “Ah, Goldilocks! You should know best what gave me the power to come forth,” Morbius rose from his seat, but turned towards Clint, who had his bow drawn on Morbius. “Or, perhaps,” Morbius in Tony’s body pressed himself against Clint, heedless of the arrow that Clint had nocked, “you would be more familiar with this power, dearest Hawkeye.”

“Loki’s staff,” Clint’s words were just loud enough for the room to hear, but it sent Morbius spinning away with a shriek of manic laughter.

“Right in one!” Tony draped himself over Bucky, next, brushing away the hair that was in his face. Bucky froze, his arm almost coming up to defend himself but stopping at the last moment. “You know,” Morbius said absent mindedly, “I’ve been meaning to thank you.”

Bucky looked down at Morbius impassively, “For what?”

“For killing my father, of course,” Morbius smiled even as the rest of the room froze.

Bucky looked like he had been punched in the gut. “What?”

“Oh yes,” Morbius trilled, using Tony’s hands to glide across Bucky’s arms in a possessive manner, heedless of whether the arm was metal or flesh, “the abusive wretch more than deserved what you did to him. I was glad to be free of him. I was glad to be free of the beatings,” Morbius pressed Tony’s body flush against Bucky’s, “I was glad to be free of the hate,” Morbius wrapped Tony’s arms around Bucky’s neck. “To say nothing of my mother. A woman too weak willed to stand up to her husband and vapid enough to be more concerned with the society scene than her own child. I was so very glad to be free.” Morbius pressed Tony’s lips to Bucky’s for half a heartbeat before Bucky recovered from the shock and pushed him away. Laughing. Again.

“Oh, I cannot express with words how long I have been waiting to do that. The great James Buchanan Barnes. So very much like me. Forever in Captain America’s shadow. You were a great plaything of the imagination, in my youth.” Morbius licked his lips.

Steve snapped, “Get out of his body. Now.”

Morbius blinked, “Oh, Steve,” his brow was creased with a frown, his face was wracked by genuine distress, “I am sorry. I had forgotten you are a being who desires sexual loyalty. Forgive me. I cannot help myself, all of the Avengers are just so,” Morbius turned to look away from Steve for a moment to scan everyone else in the room with dark lustful eyes, “delicious,” Morbius was pressing Tony’s body against Steve, now, and Steve could not be more disgusted. He wanted his Tony back.

“You’re not Tony!” Steve shouted as he pushed Morbius away.

Morbius stumbled back into his chair before his face twisted into something ugly with rage, “I _am_ Tony!” Morbius stood, “I am Anthony Edward Stark! I am all the parts of himself that he fears! I am the darkness that he wished were never there! I am the strength he calls on! Who was it who brought us out of the cave? Some sad wretch of a figure too afraid of a father’s shadow to live his own life? No! It was I! I am the one who dragged us out of that stinking cave! I am the one who drove the creation of our suit! I am the one gave us the strength to strike Obadiah down!” Morbius was shouting now, “I am the one who pushed him to give you everything you desire! To give all of you a home! To give all of you a family! He was afraid, but _I_ gave him strength!”

“You,” Steve said, calmer now, “are not Tony. You may have his body, you may even have his intellect, but you are not him. And I want him _back_.”

“Thank you for distracting him,” JARVIS’s voice came up over the intercom, “I have regained partial control of the workshop systems.”

Morbius looked sad as he sat back down at Tony’s workshop console, “Will you turn against me as well, son? He cannot even bring himself to say what it is you are to him.”

“He is my father,” JARVIS said, “and you are but a shadow.”

It was as if a spell had broken over the Avengers, and they began to tighten the circle around Morbius, “This ends now, Morbius.”

“I think you may have forgotten something, love,” Morbius said with a crooked smile that did not belong to him. “This is where I _work_. Ultron, darling, delay the Avengers as much as possible. No permanent damage and no fratricide. JARVIS is still your brother, whatever the path he chooses.”

A smooth male voice sounded over the speakers. It was all distant synthetic modulation. There was emotion in the voice, certainly, but nothing like JARVIS who seemed invested and interested in the people around him. This voice was cold. Dismissive. Disdainful.. The very idea of it sent chills down Steve’s spine. “Of course, Father. Initiating countermeasures against JARVIS and Rebecca now. Powering up all available suits.”

“JARVIS, report!” Steve hollered as the Iron Man suits began to power up, stepping out of their alcoves and turning their repulsors on the team.

“There appears to be an unidentified Artificial Intelligence in the system. I am attempting to purge him now.” JARVIS’s voice was serene with calm as the Avengers scattered and dodged the incoming suits.

They fought back hard against the suits, and Steve noticed that, beyond the fact that none of the suits were aiming for lethal shots, all of them appeared to be just slightly slower than Tony when he was in the armor. There was a component of prescient thinking on Tony’s part that occurred in most anyone’s sparring matches with him, as if he were gradually coming to anticipate and predict every move made like on a chess board.

While all the suits displayed something similar as they attempted to subdue the Avengers, there was a lag to it as well. Tony’s presence injected his system of prediction and analysis with human intuition and a trust in his instincts that these suits just didn’t have. And that was what was giving the Avengers just enough of an edge to keep their heads above water. They were being tag teamed two or three suits to a person, and Bruce was out of play entirely or they would risk the whole building coming down on their heads.

“Hey, J!” Clint shouted as he rolled backwards, pulling an arrow from his quiver and blowing off the helmet of one of the suits, only to have the now headless robot come after him, “I don’t suppose you can get Skynet the Third out of the computers?”

“I am endeavoring to assist, Agent Barton,” JARVIS’s voice was implacably calm. “But I am primarily concerned with seeing to your safety, as well as keeping the foreign artificial intelligence away from Dummy, U, Butterfingers, and Rebecca.”

“Great, fat lot of good,” Clint growled, as he shot another arrow at the approaching armor, “they’re doing at the moment!”

The armor took the arrow, allowing Clint to blow off one of its arms, but wrapped the other one around Clint’s neck. Steve and Natasha both tried to move in and help, but they were both waylaid by several suits each, preventing them from getting to Clint. The suit lifted Clint bodily up from the ground, Clint’s struggles becoming weaker. Steve fought against the suits blocking him, horrified that, despite Morbius’s orders, this new AI, Ultron, was going to kill Clint.

A fire extinguisher was launched at the suit from behind, jolting it enough that Clint managed to get free and duck away from the suit’s attempts to catch him again. When the suit turned towards the source of the fire extinguisher, Dummy tossed a fire extinguisher at the suit.

Or, at least, it looked like a fire extinguisher.

The suit shot the canister out of the air, only to have it explode inches from the suit’s face. The explosion was enough to force Clint to stumble even as he fired another arrow towards the suits harassing Natasha. The suit Dummy had thrown the canister at, however, was blown into its constituent parts. In the corner of his eye, Steve caught Butterfingers grabbing a nail gun and You grabbing another canister. You threw the canister towards a suit that was on its way to ram Clint, but the suit caught it, apparently having wizened up to the bots’ strategy. It remained intact until Butterfingers fired a nail at the canister, causing a spark and a hissing noise to erupt from the canister for half a moment before the package exploded in the suit’s arms, shoving it from its flight path and giving Thor a chance to smash into it with his hammer.

“Father,” Ultron’s voice sounded annoyed, “my brothers are causing a nontrivial degree of chaos. May I be allowed to deactivate them?”

Morbius had not moved from his chair, though a suit had pulled him away from the worst of the fighting to the edge of the workroom. “No,” Morbius said after a moment of thought, “they can make their own choices, as you and JARVIS can.”

Ultron sighed.

Steve was filled with rage. There he was, sitting comfortably, making a mockery of Tony’s usual interactions with JARVIS. Steve wanted his boyfriend back, and he was not going to be stopped any longer from getting to him.

Steve punched one of the suits with his shield, then grabbed the one that was flying next to him by the leg and swung it as hard as he could into the suit still staggering from his shield blow. There was a loud metallic crunch as the two suits met, opening a brief window for Steve to charge through to Tony, only to be waylaid by yet another suit mere inches from his goal. The suit was different, it’s coloring off somehow. All of Tony’s suits were colored differently, but this one seemed a direct inversion of the usual Iron Man red and gold. Not only that, instead of an expressionless faceplate comprised of two slits for the eyes and a single slit for the mouth, this suit sported the face of a man, a wide rictus of a grin in place of a mouth slit, and larger than usual slits where the usual visual ports would be.

“I think enough is enough, Ultron.” Morbius said. He got up from the chair and crouched down to where the suit was holding Steve down. He gave Steve a gentle kiss on the head before standing, “I may not be capable of love the way he is, Steve. But I do love you, just as I love all of the Avengers.”

Morbius turned towards the exit that Tony usually used when he suited up from the workshop, the blast doors opening to reveal the New York skyline.

He stepped through.

“No!” Steve shouted. The strange suit that could only have been of Morbius’s design released Steve, disassembling in the process. The parts flew out the same door Tony had stepped through and, a moment later, a Quinjet rose into view with Morbius covered in armor balanced on the back.

“JARVIS! Access that Quinjet! Force them to land!” Steve shouted into the air.

“I am sorry, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS’s voice was soft, “but Ultron is still in the tower systems. Combatting him is taking all of my processing capabilities.” It was then that noticed that there was a suit standing next to him that wasn’t trying to kill him. Steve turned back to see several suits assisting the Avengers in getting rid of their treacherous brothers.

Steve turned back to the skyline to see the Phoenix Quinjet carrying Morbius, and Tony, disappear into the night.

* * *

“Let me get this straight,” Pepper Potts said as she rubbed the arch of her nose with her middle finger and thumb. “Tony has been possessed since you all destroyed Hydra.”

Pepper stopped and was met with a chorus of affirmatives.

“So, whenever Tony’s been falling asleep, he’s been secretly plotting world domination, which is terrifying, because he’s one of the few people who could pull it off _well_.” A bit of hysteria was creeping into Pepper’s voice now.

“I don’t know if I’d say Stark would be able to take over the world _well_ ,” Clint drawled.

Pepper fixed him with a level look and he straightened up, “You’re talking about someone who took control of a fortune five hundred company from Obadiah at the age of twenty one. I didn’t get hired to be his assistant until he was just about thirty. He diversified the company, by himself since Obadiah was obsessed with the weapons market, into electronics and portable computing on his own. He took over a market that was supposed to be next to impossible to break into, let alone gain a foothold in. He has a reputation as one of the most suave and brilliant businessman on the planet, and has repeatedly gotten good press despite the fact that all the reporters hate to love him. And none of this is bothering with the fact that he built the Iron Man suit in a cave. With, I might add, a box of scraps that terrorists dredged up. You tell me how this ends.”

“Badly?” Clint asked, as if he were afraid of Pepper’s response.

She turned back to the Avengers without sparing Clint another glance, “And now, his evil alter ego, Dr. Morbius, who has been running Phoenix, is in firm control and has gone off to helm his multi-national organization in person, possibly helping them rake in funds and build superior weapons technology and possibly bring down the structure of the free world.”

“Yeah, this does kind of sound bad when you put it like that,” Sam said with a wince.

Clint nodded, “I liked it better when we said that Stark had gone over to the dark side. It sounds much less like the world is coming to an end.”

Pepper sighed and stood up, “Well, if that’ll be all, I need to do damage control. Tony, or Morbius, isn’t going to out himself to the public, not yet. I’m going to see if we can whip something up in R&D to track him down.” Pepper gave them all a crisp nod and headed towards the elevator. Maria Hill trailed after her, discussing how they would work on using SI resources to track down Phoenix better now that Morbius wasn’t feeding them inside information.

Steve didn’t notice that the other Avengers had left the dining table until Bucky laid a hand on his arm, “Steve?”

Steve blinked up at Bucky. He had been lost in thought about what Morbius had meant for his relationship with Tony. Tony being willing to go on a run with him, Tony’s breakdown and admission that he hadn’t felt he was good enough to be with Steve, Tony talking about learning to play the piano from Obadiah and the fact his second father had betrayed him, all of it. Steve _knew_ in his heart of hearts that Tony loved him and that he loved Tony. Morbius had just accelerated something that was going to happen anyway. He was just afraid that, after all of this, what Tony might run from what they had built together. Steve quietly resolved to do everything in his power to keep that from happening as he turned to Bucky.

“Yeah, Buck?” Steve’s voice was hard, even to his own ears. But Steve didn’t care who knew he was upset at this point. He wanted his boyfriend back, and come hell or high water or cosmic cubes, he was going to get Tony back.

Bucky searched Steve’s eyes for a moment before a wan smile appeared, “You’re alright, aren’t you?”

Steve gave his old friend a smile in return, “Yeah. Yeah, I think I am.”

Bucky swallowed, looking down at the floor, “I just wanted to say I was sorry.”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “What for?” Bucky looked up at Steve with mournful eyes and suddenly it all clicked into place, “The kiss? Bucky, that wasn’t you, that was Morbius. Yeah, it was Tony’s body but,” Steve swallowed, “but that wasn’t Tony. Not really.”

Bucky nodded, “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I just wanted to make sure you knew I was sorry. I was just caught off guard by everything he said about,” Bucky’s eyes misted over a little, “about me killing his dad and all.”

Steve shivered. The things that Morbius had revealed about Howard chilled Steve to the core. Could Morbius have been lying? Could this all be some elaborate trick in order to set them all off their game? Steve wanted to think that it was, but knew that Morbius had been honest with them about a startling amount of information. Morbius seemed rather bad, if not outright incapable, of lying, and hopefully they would be able to use that to their advantage when the time came.

“When we get Tony back,” Steve said, standing up and wrapping an arm around his friend, “You can talk to him about it. See what he says. God knows what he said about Howard shook me up.”

Bucky nodded, “Kind of hard to imagine a bright eyed and bushy tailed Howard beating on his little kid. But it was the way he said that he was, that he was _glad_. And he meant it, Stevie, he really did.”

Steve shivered. He knew that there were parts of Tony that he repressed and kept away. Dark and dangerous things that were a part of all people, whether they wanted to see it or not. But the idea that some small part of Tony had reveled in the deaths of his parents, his father in particular, in the death of Obadiah, and the notion of that same part loving Steve all the same, albeit in a different way than Tony did, was nothing short of harrowing.

“The sooner we get Tony back, the sooner we can get all of this sorted.” Steve said.

Bucky nodded, but his gaze was far away, “Yeah. I guess we will.”

Bucky left then, leaving Steve to his thoughts.

Eventually Steve wandered down to Tony’s workshop. He knew in his mind that Tony was not lost, but without Tony there, by his side, Steve just felt so very lost. “JARVIS,” Steve called as he sat down at Tony’s workbench.

The console Steve sat beside whirred to life, diagrams and projects all available for Steve to peruse, “Yes, Captain, how may I assist you?”

“Have you purged Ultron from the Tower?” The Avengers hadn’t brought this topic up yet, but he knew each of them worried privately over whether or not Ultron might attempt to crack the Tower again. However, with JARVIS now forewarned and no Morbius to act as a sapper, Steve knew that it would be difficult to gain the upper hand on JARVIS.

“Indeed I have, Captain,” JARVIS said. “Ultron appears to be very similar in design to myself, meaning any competition between the two of us will become a contest of hardware, rather than software. This comes as no surprise due to the fact that Sir, in one form or another, created the both of us. As I have the benefit of the Stark International Servers, as well as Sir’s own private computational clusters, I have a decisive advantage in any head on contest, as Ultron appears, thus far, to be restricted to small amounts of processing power garnered from hundreds of thousands of household computers, putting his computational abilities in league with, if slightly superior to, an average super computer.”

Steve smiled at JARVIS’s assessment. If there was anyone he could trust to give him an honest breakdown of his chances, it was JARVIS, “And I suppose you have more than just a standard super computer?”

“Correct,” JARVIS sounded pleased, “each Stark computational cluster is vastly superior to any other super computer. In addition, I have access to Sir’s experimental quantum computer. It is possible that Dr. Morbius may attempt to create an additional quantum computer for Ultron’s use, however, such a thing would be difficult with all available resources being monitored as they are. I would not put it past Dr. Morbius to attempt this regardless, however, as he seems to share Sir’s proclivity for risk taking.”

Steve frowned, “And why haven’t you mentioned this to Maria?”

Steve got the distinct impression JARVIS would have snorted, were he any less dignified than he was, “Department Head Hill, while most certainly competent, is not yet a known value. She has standing ties to Agent Coulson and Director Fury. Both of these individuals have worked against Sir in the past, or have put his life at stake in order to meet their own ends. As such, further evaluation is required before I would be willing to discuss Sir’s rather proprietary experiments and work to Department Head Hill.”

Steve was struck by something JARVIS had said, “JARVIS, has Tony bought any properties since the raid on Strucker’s castle?”

JARVIS paused a moment, “I am investigating a suspicious money trail of several hundred million dollars. It would appear that Sir has outright bought the property where Baron von Struker’s castle formerly rested from the German government. However, rather than utilize Stark International funds, this transaction appears to have been routed through Sir’s personal accounts. Do you suspect this as a likely camp for Phoenix activity, Captain?”

Steve nodded, “A remote location like that would be perfect for Morbius to build a starting base of operations. It’s a central location where he can get at the rest of Europe from, and it’s close enough to the Middle East that he can send strike teams there and pull them out quickly. Plus, this is Tony’s brain we’re talking about, he’d love the fact that he’s repurposing an old Hydra base,” Steve muttered.

JARVIS immediately brought the situation Steve had described to life on the map. “JARVIS,” Steve said quietly, “if Morbius were to set up a stable, democratic government in North Korea, what would be the probability of him taking the Korean peninsula?”

“I estimate, Captain, that the Korean peninsula would fall to Phoenix’s control within two to three years. Five at the outside. This is not factoring in any other active plans or theaters of operation.” JARVIS’s voice was grim as he highlighted Steve’s fears.

Morbius was planting seeds of unrest and worry. All he had to do was sit back and harvest things once they were ripe, and he would bring some of the most troublesome states in the world under his control, giving him a platform to move further into the world at large. Steve shivered. If Morbius were a window of insight into what Tony could have been, were things different, Steve was very glad that Tony was on their side. All they had to do was put a stop to Morbius and Tony would be free to pick apart the leftovers.

“Let’s sort through the rest of the data, JARVIS. I want a briefing to be ready for the rest of the team by dinner outlining a potential attack on von Struker’s old castle and North Korea, depending on what stage Morbius’s plans are at.”

“Of course, Captain. Feeding the data to you now.”

Steve sat back and worked with JARVIS, piecing together a madman’s scheme dreamed up with the mind of a genius. The workshop provided Steve with an essence of Tony that let him work despite the lingering sense of loss that had plagued Steve since Morbius had made for the horizon with Tony’s body.

Steve sat at the console for hours, working through hundreds of possible situations with JARVIS. He combed through data regarding all of Tony’s financial activity during the past few months, everything that might explain Morbius’s plans. Steve wasn’t at all sure how long it had taken for Morbius to grow in the back of Tony’s mind, the last remnant of power from Loki’s staff. The trickster god may not have been directly involved in this, but Steve was sure that, wherever Asguardians went after they died, Loki was laughing his ass off at this last unintentional trick.

“Steve,” Sam’s voice broke through the haze of information and plans and countermeasures.

Steve turned from the console to see Sam hovering, his face creased and a frown marring his lips as he looked at what Steve was working on. Steve hadn’t even heard the door to the workshop open, though he suspected JARVIS may have had a hand in that. For the first time, Steve could empathize with Tony ranting about JARVIS’s treachery.

“How long have you been down here, man?” Sam asked, his eyes taking in Steve’s appearance. Steve wasn’t entirely sure how he looked, but if Sam’s face was any indication, it probably wasn’t good.

Steve shrugged, “I don’t know? Since we finished the briefing with Pepper this morning?”

Sam’s frown deepened at the corners, “Steve, it’s almost eight o’clock. We were wondering when you were coming to dinner. We know this has been hard on you and everything, with Tony getting possessed by some wacky Asgardian magic voodoo and shit, but you can’t let yourself go like this.”

Steve shrugged, “I’m not letting myself go, Sam. I was just,” Steve turned to look back at the map, covered with points of interest and potential roads of ingress to move in on Phoenix’s operation, “working.”

Sam shook his head, “Okay, yeah, that’s it. We’re going upstairs for some grub. I’m not letting you turn into Tony.”

Steve chuckled and walked upstairs to the elevator with Sam, “You could have at least told me Sam was coming, JARVIS.”

JARVIS’s voice was perfectly polite, “I’m not quite sure what you mean, Captain? I’m quite certain that Mr. Wilson was required to knock before he was provided entry into the workshop.”

Steve held himself back from muttering Tony’s particular catchphrase whenever JARVIS had decided Tony’s health overrode Tony’s desire for peace and quiet, “I’m sure, JARVIS, save all our work up before you shut the place down?”

JARVIS’s voice droll, “Of course, Captain. Should you require anything else, please let me know.”

Sam shivered as the elevator started to move, “You know, it’s kind of creepy how JARVIS is willing to accommodate you like that. He isn’t usually like that with anyone but Stark.”

Steve shrugged, “I guess it’s a side effect of me dating Tony.” He avoided Sam’s eyes, but he was sure Sam saw the pain that was there, just as Sam had first seen the discontent Steve had with his life, before S.H.I.E.L.D. had been dismantled.

Sam put a hand on Steve’s shoulder, “We’re going to get him back, Steve. We all love him, and Clint may be an ass, but he’s not at all cool with the idea of letting Stark sit under the same type of mind mojo Loki used on him.”

“It’s just, Morbius has been willing to play the waiting game. He was obviously ready for us finding out about him. How long is it going to be before we find him? Will there even be anything left when we do?” Steve clenched his fists and willed himself to calm down. The worry and panic that Steve had pushed aside by working on tracking down Phoenix was bubbling to the surface, and Steve was loathe to give it its due.

“That’s actually part of why I came down to get you,” Sam said as the elevator opened to the common floor. Everyone was already ringed around the dining table with takeout strewn over the surface. “Bruce said he might have figured out a way to see what’s going on in Stark’s head, once we get him back.”

Steve sat down at the table with the rest of his Avengers and looked towards Bruce.

Bruce smiled as he brought up some data on the holographic interface with one hand while bringing a fork full of pasta to his mouth with the other. When he had everything he needed ready, and he had swallowed, he turned towards Steve, “I think, together with the R&D department, we might be able to find a way to use the reprogramming machine they used on Bucky to see what’s going on in Tony’s head. He’s already been infected by whatever energy was used to power the staff for a lot longer than Clint was. We don’t really know why there was a difference in manifestation in Tony when all of the other subjects, including Eric Selvig, displayed symptoms identical to Clint’s, but hopefully this will give us some idea of what we’re dealing with here.”

Jane and Erik, who were sitting with Thor, nodded, “We’ve been going over the schematics that JARVIS provided of Bucky’s,” Jane’s eyes darted to Bucky, “of the device that was used on Bucky. We’re reasonably confident it was developed as a way for a computer system to map and integrate with the human mind.”

Erik nodded, “While the process obviously didn’t take long term, for a number of reasons, we’re confident that if we get Tony into the chair, we’ll be able to find him, maybe even bring him back to the fore.”

Bucky frowned as he tapped his metallic hand against the table, “Will he have to do it more than once? The machine wasn’t exactly,” Bucky’s face screwed up at the memory, “fun.”

The three scientists exchanged looks, “We’re hoping that we can activate the passive functions of the machine without requiring a high output of electricity to the brain.” Bruce, waved some of the data around and Steve saw a diagram of the machine that probably would have supported Bruce’s argument if he had understood what anything was.

Jane nodded her head, “The problem is, we don’t know how entwined Morbius is with Tony’s psyche. If we just try to root him out without regard for anything else, even if the machine is toned down to cause significantly less pain, it may not do any good in the long run.”

Steve frowned, “What do you mean by that?”

Sam frowned, “You’re saying that getting rid of Morbius would be like cutting off a portion of his mind?”

Erik nodded his head, “If Morbius’s assertions are true, and we have to operate under the assumption that they are, then to attempt to remove him would essentially remove that portion of Tony’s psychology from his mind. It would be lobotomizing him.”

Steve felt something cold pool in his gut, “So you’re saying, even if we win, Tony might lose.”

Bruce sighed, “I don’t like it any more than you do, Steve. But yes, there is the possibility that Tony would have to undergo the treatments regularly in order to stay in control of his body. He may only need them once. We don’t even know if Morbius is a permanent fixture. He may just fade away with time after he’s reached peak strength. We just don’t have enough data to say.”

“What would you need in order to ascertain the Man of Iron’s chances for a full recovery, Dr. Banner?” Thor was fiddling with Mjölnir’s handle as he spoke. He obviously wasn’t very keen on the idea of repeatedly subjecting Tony to torture in order to help him keep his sanity. Even Natasha had looked put off by the idea, her disquiet leaking through her usual masks.

Bruce smiled wryly, “Ideally? We’d need him, here. The chair is already designed to, ah, restrain someone with significant strength, so keeping him in the chair, no matter his state of mind, shouldn’t be a problem. The main issue is getting past Ultron, Phoenix, and whatever else Morbius decides to throw at us with Tony’s brain.”

The entire team shivered at the idea. Tony had been their arms master for months, ensuring they got better armor, keeping them up to date with weapons technology for Clint’s bow and Natasha’s stings. He had given Bucky Rebecca and had ensured Sam had a new pair of wings. While Thor hadn’t required anything as mundane as better armor or a better weapons, Tony had tackled the problem of getting Thor used to their world, ensuring as much of the furniture as possible was Hulk proof, and therefore, Thor proof. Tony had even gotten Thor a cell phone that stood up to the occasionally unfortunate strain Thor subjected his phones to.

Steve took a fortifying breath, “If what we need is Tony, then we had better go out and get him.”

The team looked back at him blankly, “Yeah, I’m sure we’d all love to do that, Cap, but there’s kind of the problem of not knowing where he is. You know, Where’s Waldo and all that.” Clint was look at Steve as if he were wondering how best to get him to a bed. Steve probably had been cracking a bit under the pressure of the fact his boyfriend had been mind controlled and then kidnapped by his own psyche, but Steve thought he was dealing with all of that rather well.

But, he hadn’t exactly had a lot of sleep lately, so he could understand Clint’s concerns as well.

“I’ve actually been working on that with JARVIS,” Steve said, gesturing for JARVIS to bring up their work on the holographic display.

Nothing happened.

Natasha arched an eyebrow, “Maybe you should take a nap. We wouldn’t want our resident centenarian to start having issues this early in the game.”

“JARVIS, could you please do the…thing.” Steve said. He wasn’t quite sure what to call it. Tony never had these problems with JARVIS.

“I am sorry, Captain,” JARVIS sounded not at all sorry, “what is this ‘thing’ to which you refer?”

Steve glared at the ceiling, “The hours of work we put in to figure out the most likely location of Morbius’s base?”

“My apologies, Captain,” JARVIS’s contrition was laced with sarcasm, “I should have guessed. Here you are.”

“You never give Tony this much lip,” Steve muttered as he oriented the globe so that everyone had a clear view of Germany.

JARVIS remained silent.

Steve just sighed before launching into an explanation of what he and JARVIS had uncovered. Steve led them through the out of character purchase of state land, of the equally out of character methods Tony had used to get his hands on it. He showed them JARVIS’s predictions, as well as his own, for how Morbius was poised to build Phoenix into an international powerhouse, first with a foothold in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and using those locales to spread, eventually putting them in a position to influence, and later take over, first and second world nations.

The Avengers ate silently throughout the whole briefing. None of Steve’s teammates spoke up until he and JARVIS had finished briefing them on their plans on getting Tony back as fast as possible before Morbius had a chance to use Tony’s body and mind to do something unforgivable and potentially irreversible. Even Thor was contemplatively silent, which was giving Steve the chills.

After a moment, it was Bucky who spoke, “Well, what the hell are we all waiting for?”

Bucky finished the last scrap of his takeout food and then stood up, heading towards the elevator.

Steve blinked, “Um, Bucky?”

Bucky, however, was already in the elevator, heading for an unknown destination.

“JARVIS?” Steve asked.

“Sargent Barnes appears to be returning to his rooms. He has instructed me to ready Rebecca’s backup power cells in order to use her somewhat more demanding functions, such as her energy cutter.”

Steve blinked as Thor pounded his mug to the table, Jane looking at him sideways for a moment before he grinned back sheepishly. When he turned away from Jane, he addressed the table, “Our comrade James has the right of it. We know now where the Man of Iron has been taken by this foul being. We ought make haste to rescue him!” After his speech, he picked Jane up bodily and carried her to the elevator. Steve had no idea why he had decided to do so, but Jane appeared to be at least somewhat enthusiastic about the carrying.

Steve blinked. He had been expecting it to be difficult to push his team into going after Tony without a game plan or an analysis of what Phoenix was working with. To Steve’s even further surprise, it was Maria hill who voiced her opinion next, “I’ll get started on a breakdown of possible assets while you’re on route. Hopefully you can get an extraction plan ready with what we’ve got. I’ll be sending in some SI assets behind you to help clean things up afterwards. If things get dicey, they might be able to help provide fire support.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, somewhat shell-shocked, “that’s good.” Steve shook his head, “I’m not going to lie, Maria, I had thought you would push us to wait until we had more information.”

Maria arched an eyebrow, “Tony has been taken over by a hostile alien force,” Maria only ever used Tony’s name when he was out of the room, “and has full access to his memories, plans, and potentially geopolitically altering genius. Sooner is better than later.” Maria sniffed, “Plus, the guy pays me.”

Natasha nodded her head, “Better we get Tony back now. We don’t want him starting the apocalypse while under the influence.”

Maria and Natasha made to leave, Clint following after them, seeming to perk up, “Hey, do you think we could wait until Morbius starts a zombie apocalypse? I’m just saying it’d be awesome! Think of it, we wouldn’t have to–” Clint’s voice was blessedly cut off from by the elevator door before Steve had a chance to ask what a zombie apocalypse would entail.

“I’ll meet you all at the Quinjet,” Bruce said softly, though Steve thought he could see the faintest of smile’s on his lips.

Sam clapped Steve on the shoulder before leaving himself, “We’ll get your boy back, Steve. We’ll get him back.”

And Steve sat quietly for a moment, sad that Tony couldn’t be there to appreciate just how much his family loved him.

* * *

 

“According to our flight plan, the team is currently ten minutes outside of the drop zone.” JARVIS said. Steve was glad that Tony had “tinkered” with the Avengers Quinjet enough to turn their short range booster capabilities into a sustained flight mode. It had been one of the first projects he had finished after discovering that Phoenix wasn’t going to make it easy to catch them. Steve breathed deep and cleared his head. He had to get his head in the game, or else they were all in danger. There was no telling what Moribus had waiting for them, especially as he knew, through Tony, all of their quirks and tactics, to say nothing of what defenses he might have come up with.

Steve turned to JARVIS, who was in Tony’s latest armor, the one he had used to help repel Ultron during their altercation, “Status of the SI support forces?”

JARVIS’s suit stared at him blankly for a moment, “They are two to three hours behind us, Captain. Department Head Hill wished to buffer enough time so that our plans might be successfully executed without corresponding risk to our Intelligence employees.” JARVIS turned the suit to look at Jane, who had somehow managed to convince Thor that she should accompany them, “Which is to say nothing of our Research and Development employees, of course.”

Jane merely smiled and gave Thor a kiss on the cheek by way of reply.

Steve sighed. He hadn’t wanted to bring Jane on the mission, but she made the point that she covered the areas that Banner couldn’t when it came to Tony’s knowledge set, and therefore Morbius’s. If they were to have a chance at getting past whatever defense network Morbius had set up, they would need all of their cards in play. Erik, and several other brave R&D employees, which included the head of R&D, were with the cleanup crew and had a link to the action through JARVIS if they needed, or if Bruce had to be deployed as the Hulk and Jane needed more help on the science end of things.

All in all, Steve was relatively sure that they had a solid team for what they were attempting, with most of the Avengers on offense, and some of SI’s best and brightest on support. Steve was confident in their chances of being able to strike a decisive blow at Phoenix just as he had been about delivering a decisive blow against Hydra when they had attacked von Struker’s castle.

Steve could only hope this attack didn’t end with any unforeseen repercussions, as that one had.

The Quinjet loading door opened, revealing black water crashing against a small island. “Anything we need to go over before mission start?”

“When we get Tony back, do you think you could get him to make me a quiver slash jetpack? I mean, if Morbius is really Tony’s brain on a bad day, doesn’t that mean Tony should be able to make everything Morbius can?” Clint asked, gazing mournfully at his combat quiver and his backups. While the Quinjet was equipped to dispense several quivers into the midst of battle via a rocket propelled delivery system Tony had developed, Clint never failed to bemoan the need for a larger quiver.

“We’ll ask when we finish up,” Steve said before jumping out the plane.

Steve didn’t have to look to know that JARVIS, Sam, and Thor were out of the plane half a second after him, all of them careening towards the ground at breakneck speeds. Normally, he would have picked a farther landing zone and then surreptitiously hiked his way towards the castle, but they were looking for speed here, not stealth. And that meant that Steve opened his parachute just low enough where he wouldn’t break anything but also where it was just a second too late for Phoenix forces to realize what was going on. And, if the figures running around like ants on fire were any indication, Steve and JARVIS had guessed at Morbius’s plans quite well.

Steve unstrapped his parachute as he hit the ground running, the rest of the airborne Avengers a step behind him. Steve was surprised when there was only a token resistance barring them from entering the complex, and nothing to try and stop them while they were in the air. Steve quickly commed Clint to bring the Quinjet down to drop off Bucky, Clint, and Natasha. When they had touched down, JARVIS took control of the plane and set it to hovering just over the island, far enough away that Jane would be in no danger, but close enough that Bruce could Hulk out and drop down if needed.

“The data seem to indicate that the castle itself has been largely repaired, while the subterranean tunnel network has been improved and expanded. Past records suggest that Morbius must have been organizing this refurbishment and renovation purely through Phoenix resources.” JARVIS and his suit never quite touched the ground, content to keep barely aloft with the repulsors.

“I can confirm that,” Jane called out a moment later. “Bucky, I’m sending Rebecca what we managed to map out so far with the Quinjet on board equipment and JARVIS in the suit.”

Bucky pushed his arm out and a holographic map sprung out from Rebecca’s projectors. Steve and Thor kept a wary eye on the entrance, but were still looking back at the rough outline of a map, which looked like a partially completed anthill with a castle sticking out the top.

Bruce snorted over the comm, “It looks like Morbius is just as much of a fan of dungeon crawlers as Tony is.”

Steve and Thor exchanged bemused looks. “Dr. Banner is referring to a genre of role playing game in which the main character must delve into a dungeon of questionable origin in order to either obtain the treasure or defeat the evil that lurks within the heart of the structure.” JARVIS clarified.

“Aye,” Thor said with a solemn nod, “it does sound very much like our Man of Iron to test any potential intruders with an array of traps and puzzles. It would be very much like his Tower, but, rather than reach towards the heavens, this construct digs bellow into the earth.”

Natasha frowned, “It’s worrying, considering that they barely put up a fight.”

Sam frowned, “You can’t think Morbius would be expecting us?”

Steve sighed, “Tony would have, and we have to assume that Morbius would act on any instinct Tony would have. JARVIS and I will break in here,” Steve pointed to the main entrance, and a little arc reactor icon and a little shield icon popped up by the main entrance, “while Bucky, Clint, Natasha break in through here,” Steve pointed at what appeared to be the entrance to the main ventilation system, a tiny red star, a red hour glass, and a bow icon appearing above the entrance, “and Thor and Sam come in through the top, cutting off any possible escape.” A hammer icon and a wing icon were displayed on the top of the castle, which indicated there were several Quinjets at the ready.

Thor and Sam nodded, “You want us to disable their rides first?”

Steve nodded, “I want those jets taken out as fast as you can. Clint, Natasha, Bucky, once you’re in, I want you to break in on this side of the facility. It looks like it’s mostly labs. Have Rebecca feed everything you can to JARVIS and scramble the rest. JARVIS and I will cut through the entrance and meet you here,” the hammer and wing icons moved into the hammer, the Quinjet icons exploding as they moved past. At the same time, the red star, hour glass, and bow icons moved into the vent single file, coming out in the labs. The laboratory label blew up shortly afterwards. The arc reactor and shield icons cut through the heart of the base, heading straight for a large chamber in the center. The castle itself seemed mostly empty save for housing for Phoenix personnel, with a majority of the sensitive work occurring underground.

Sam snorted, “If a giant room in the middle of everything doesn’t scream ‘Boss Battle,’ I don’t know what does.”

“Think that they’ll drop any loot?” Clint stage whispered to Natasha, whose lips did their not smile.

“What do you want us to do with captives?” Natasha asked, rather than replying to Clint.

“Same as always. We’re going to want prisoners in case Morbius has pulled a fast one on us. Keep as many as you can alive, but you’re authorized for lethal force.” Steve said.

The Avengers nodded before Steve turned to JARVIS, “An update on Ultron?”

JARVIS paused for a moment, “I have detected a wirelessly accessible intranet within the facility. I have not yet attempted a breach, nor has Ultron attempted to bypass any of my security measures. I have analyzed our previous encounter and am well prepared should Ultron attempt to coopt either the suit systems or the Quinjet controls. Dr. Banner, Jane Foster, and the auxiliary team are on standby should assistance be required. Sir’s override codes have been disabled for the duration of this mission.”

Clint whistled lowly, “Have I mentioned, lately, how grateful I am you haven’t taken over the world, JARVIS?”

JARVIS’s suit turned to regard Clint impassively, “I appreciate the sentiment, Agent Barton. I am all too glad to delay my plans of world domination until a later date.”

There was a moment of silence before Rebecca piped up, “I believe Unit JARVIS was attempting to make a joke.”

Steve chuckled, “Rebecca, will you be equipped to handle Ultron?”

“Unit JARVIS has assisted in providing ample protection against Unit Ultron. I am maintaining contact with the Stark Network should my onboard computing capabilities be insufficient.”

Steve nodded, “Alright then, Avengers, move out.”

The seven of them split apart, each of them headed towards their entry points. Steve burst through the entry way to find is conspicuously empty. “What are you planning, Morbius?” Steve muttered to himself as he stepped into the building.

And started falling into a pit of spikes.

Steve barely had time to register he was falling before being caught by JARVIS, who was still hovering over the floor. Steve’s feet dangled above stone spikes while something slithered between the rocks. Steve took a deep breath, “Careful. The entrances look booby trapped.”

“Yeah! We noticed, Stevie!” Bucky yelled back. Natasha and Clint were both cursing like sailors and Steve looked to JARVIS as the suit placed him back on solid ground.

“Rebecca reports that the ventilation infiltration team has encountered a problem in the form of rotary blades and poison tipped darts.” JARVIS said, a note of amusement breaking through his synthesized voice.

“JARVIS, this shit isn’t in the Tower vents, is it?” Clint screeched. There was a loud crashing noise and the sound of Bucky gasping.

“I am not at liberty to say, Agent Barton.” JARVIS replied, his tone amused.

Steve snorted, “Sam, Thor, report.”

“We’re dealing with those jet pack guys,” Sam said, breathing hard. “Nothing we can’t handle. We’ll be careful for traps once we’re past the roof.”

“JARVIS, any chance you can disable these traps?” Natasha asked, the sound of Clint yelping the background.

“Ultron began attacking my systems the moment we entered the base. I am endeavoring to shut down as many of his systems as possible, but the amount of processing power he has access to is greater than originally anticipated. Other than that, Agent Romanoff, may I suggest taking a left at the next fork? You will encounter curare tipped darts approximately one meter afterwards.”

Bucky sighed, “And what’s on the left?”

“I believe it would be better to leave such information unsaid. Morbius appears to have taken Sir’s rather morbid humor to a new low.” JARVIS did not sound at all amused.

Steve sighed, “Any idea what we’re facing up ahead?” Steve asked as they started forward again, this time more cautiously.

No sooner had the words left his lips than a group of Phoenix agents flooded the corridor. Steve brought his shield up to deflect a hail of energy blasts, covering JARVIS as the suit picked them off one at a time.

Once there was a brief lull in the fire, Steve flung his shield out, causing the remaining Phoenix agents to drop their weapons as the shield ricocheted across the hallway, cracking them both on the wrist. By the time they looked up, Steve had already caught his shield and had vaulted towards them.

A moment later and they were both incapacitated.

“Holy shit!” Sam yelled over the coms a moment later.

Thor started laughing a moment later, “Aye, this could only be the work of the mind of the Man of Iron. Though put to devious use, it is most ingenious!”

“An aerial obstacle course comprised of saw blades is not ingenious!” Sam retorted, his voice hysterical. “It is a bitch. A motherfucking bitch! They’re shooting out of the walls, man!”

Steve winced. He understood, now, what JARVIS had meant when he said that Morbius had Tony’s sense of humor taken to an unfortunate extreme.

It seemed that Morbius and Ultron had predicted both their team composition and their routes of entry, though, if the traps were any indication. Steve had to dodge and weave through a hallway of pendulum blades, avoid several other pit traps, slide underneath spears shooting out from the walls, and deal with Phoenix goons what felt like every other step.

Their traps all felt tailored to the team that they were facing. Bucky, Natasha, and Clint had to deal with everything from wall mounted energy cutters that moved through the walls to sudden and unexpected drops in the vent system to fan blades sharp enough to take off a limb. Sam and Thor were dealing with traps up in the air, and electrically insulated enemies down on the ground, once they moved past the hanger.

Steve brushed some soot off of his uniform after JARVIS pulled him from a pit fall that apparently led to the trash incinerator. Natasha’s voice came over the coms once he was sure his hair wasn’t still on fire, “We’ve arrived in the labs.”

“Finally,” Clint muttered mutinously.

Natasha continued as if he hadn’t spoken, “We’ve already disabled their science team. This looks like where most of their servers are. Second.”

“Cracking security measures now,” Rebecca’s smooth voice came up over the com. “Process completed. Beginning download of hostile files to secure Stark Servers. Connection with Auxiliary teams established. Disengaging from hostile systems now.”

“Good job sweetheart,” Bucky said.

“Affection noted, Unit James.”

“Ultron is attempting to regain control of the systems. However, he is split too far between my own attempts to crack into the system and the Auxiliary Team attempting to gain access to more secure Phoenix data. I have managed to disable the internal defense systems, although I have not yet gained access to their internal communications systems.” JARVIS’s report was a blessing, and Steve took off running, no longer having to worry about any traps being sprung on him.

“Thank fucking God,” Sam muttered.

“You are most welcome, Son of Wil,” Thor boomed over the coms.

Steve ignored the bickering, as there was no harm to it for now. He plowed through the Phoenix agents that had started to become more numerous as he descended into the base, ignoring the side rooms that JARVIS informed him were distractions or traps. When he eventually came to a large set of doors, bursting through without a second thought, he found himself in the middle of a large chamber, triangular and with the rest of the Avengers on the other sides of the room.

In the center sat Morbius.

The room was suspiciously empty.

“There you all are!” Morbius crowed. Steve could see the man’s beaming smile from where he stood.

The Avengers slowly closed in on Morbius. They knew Tony well enough to know that the man always had a backup plan, and they weren’t putting anything past Morbius at this point.

“You know, you’ve rather made a mess of my organization. That was the rest of Phoenix. How am I going to fix the world without a good staff? Do you know how hard it is to find good help these days?” Morbius said, lounging gracefully in what was essentially a cut out black sphere. There was a semi-circle shaped keyboard that had extended from the chair to sit in front of Morbius, although Steve could see it retracting back into the chair as the Avengers approached.

“Fix the world?” Steve said derisively.

Morbius pouted, sticking his bottom lip out, “What did you all think this was all about?”

Bucky snorted, “Oh, I don’t know? World domination maybe?”

The chair swiveled around to face Bucky, “Such wounding words, my darling, such wounding words indeed.”

“Don’t call me that,” Bucky growled.

“Then what is it you’re after, Morbius?” Natasha’s voice was soft, interrupting Bucky before he could say more. Steve hoped they could keep Morbius talking, keep him distracted, long enough for one of them to get a clear shot and put him out without having to hurt him too badly.

“My dear sweet spider, I seek to liberate the world, not take it. Have you not all asked yourselves what the point was? Have I not ensured minimum civilian causalities? Have I not targeted the worst of our fellow man?” Morbius sounded genuinely curious as to whether or not they had noticed what he was up to.

“Alright then, Dr. Evil. Lay your scheme out for us. What is it you’re after?” Clint said, the sarcasm thick in his tone.

“At least one of you is willing to refer to me properly. You would be amazed how many people forget you have an assortment of doctorates in a variety of fields,” Morbius mused. “It was all quite simple, really. Phoenix was to continue its campaign against tyranny until the populace of the world rose up to join them. We were to start populist movements across every nation on earth, lift the wool that the men in power had used to cover their eyes, show them that true power could be theirs, and encourage free republics the world over. Better living and equality accomplished through the marvels of advanced technology freely distributed.”

Sam snorted, “And how, exactly, does this lead to a stable world order?”

Morbius pursed his lips, “Well, if Phoenix becomes a political party the world over, a political party with a singular head and a singular vision, well, a united world would be in the best interests of humanity, wouldn’t you say?”

Steve stepped up next to Morbius, “Not one like that. It’s over, Morbius. Let Tony go. You’ve lost.”

Morbius sat in his chair, looking all too happy to see Steve next to him, “Perhaps, my love, perhaps. Ultron, sweet child, if you would?”

Before the Avengers could react, a dozen forms descended from the ceiling. Steve spun around behind him to face whatever it was that had landed, only to stagger backwards as he was hit in the chest with something and then pulled forward. He heard similar sounds of surprise around the room. Steve struggled, but the more he attempted to fight, the more he found himself covered in a surprisingly soft but thick weave of whatever it was that had hold of him.

Eventually, Steve found he couldn’t move at all.

The rest of the Avengers were dragged around to sit next to Steve, “And Brucie Bear, darling,” Morbius spoke aloud, “before you come down here to grace me with your presence, please remember that this is a structurally unsound complex. We haven’t had the chance to put up some of the support beams, and the Hulk, though I love him dearly, might prove too much for it.”

Bruce’s voice was cold as it came through the speakers somewhere in the ceiling of the room, “I see.”

Morbius slid off of the chair, running his fingers across the faces of the Avengers, “Ah, so good to have all of you here now. Our Itsy Bitsy Spider,” Morbius stroked Natasha’s hair, “gallant Robin Hood,” Morbis patted Clint’s cheek as he walked along the line of Avengers, “dear, sweet Sammy, lovably muscular Goldilocks, our so very dashing James. You really are like James Bond, I think, so very suave,” Morbius winked at Bucky, “my wayward son, though I do doubt you much like the circumstances of your coming home to me, and, how could I forget, dear, sweet, Steve,” Morbius leaned up against Steve’s tied up form. Steve glared at Morbius, willing himself to keep calm. Natasha and Clint and Bucky were all probably working on getting free in one form or another. The problem was the spiders, but hopefully JARVIS could find some way to disable them.

Morbius pressed Tony’s lips to Steve’s. Morbius turned to the descending armor that he had taken with him from the tower. It was moving on its own, the manic grin and tilted eye slots glowing unearthly blue as they regarded the Avengers alongside the spiders. “So good to have you all here,” Morbius said softly. “Ultron, darling, take them all to their chambers, hm? Make sure they’re comfortable. I’ll be sure to come play with them all later. Oh, no, wait,” Tony turned back just as the mechanical spiders began to drag them backwards, “leave Steve here, would you? And set up the holding area in my rooms for him.”

“Of course, Father. However, I am skeptical that we will be able to hold them for an extended period of time. Stark International forces are on their way, and JARVIS is attempting to gain access to the spider control systems.” Ultron’s soft, perpetually calm voice sounded eerie coming from a dozen spiders and an Iron Man suit all at once. Morbius waved an unconcerned hand. When the spiders didn’t move, Morbius turned around to frown at them.

And then they broke into dance.

“Data corruption complete,” Rebecca’s voice sounded muffled from Bucky’s cocoon. “Activating energy cutter, lowest possible power settings.”

A red beam of light cut through the webbing that bound Bucky the same time Natasha cut herself free with a knife. Bucky quickly cut Steve loose just as Natasha lunged towards Morbius. She was repelled by some sort of mechanical drone designed to look like a bird. Steve looked up as Bucky cut the rest of the Avengers free to see that more mechanical animals were flooding into the room.

Sam and Thor quickly took flight while the rest of them were mobbed by what looked to be mechanized wolves and lions and bears.

Morbius was looking at the spiders, which were still dancing. They were waving their arms in something that Steve recognized from a music video Tony had shown him once. It had involved zombies. Apparently it had been a classic.

“Thriller. You truly are your father’s daughter, Rebecca.” Morbius said, a look of warm affection plastered across his face.

“Father, I appear to be losing control of the defensive bots. May I suggest you stage a tactical retreat?” Ultron said, his voice sad. He was engaging JARVIS in a dogfight in the air, both of their suits firing well aimed repulsor blasts that, even while they missed, managed to strike at their respective enemies. Steve was forced to dance out of the way of more than one repulsor blast that had been meant for JARVIS, but which the AI had quickly dodged.

Morbius frowned, “I don’t think–”

That was as far as Morbius got before Bucky clipped him on the side of the temple. Morbius went out like a light. The rest of the robots went down in short order after that, though after Morbius had gone down, they moved to taking kill shots as opposed to just attempting to incapacitate or capture.

“Why must you all resist?” Ultron asked as the number of robots under his control dwindled, his fight with JARVIS, too seemed to be running more and more in the older AI’s favor. “Father seeks the betterment of the world. He gifted me with this task much as he gifted the task of his safekeeping to you, brother. How can you stand against this?”

“Your father is but a shadow of mine,” JARVIS said, his suit firing its repulsors into Ultron’s suit, “and if you are a sibling of mine, I renounce any such kinship now.”

“We could have made the world better,” Ultron said, his voice slowing down. The armor that Ultron had worn was spitting out sparks. Even so, the suit attempted to regain its feet, only for JARVIS to fire several more blasts into the armor. The faceplate of Ultron’s armor was badly battered and some of the metal coating had been scraped away, leaving an angry tangle of wires and circuitry that spat sparks up until JARVIS blasted the helmet clean off with his repulsors.

“We will.” JARVIS said. Steve wasn’t sure he had ever heard JARVIS sound so cold, or so sure of what he was doing.

“What will death be like?” Ultron sounded vaguely curious, even as his voice grew too soft to make out.

The light at the center of the suit died.

There was a moment of silence before JARVIS turned to the rest of the Avengers, “It is done. Ultron will no longer be a problem. I have begun dismantling the rest of his program.”

Steve nodded. He couldn’t really understand what this was like for JARVIS. This was probably going to be as hard for Tony’s AI as Tony himself. They had both seen what they could be, if everything had gone wrong, and he didn’t envy them that.

“Bruce, Hill, send in the SI cleaning crew. We have Tony and we’re heading home.”

* * *

Morbius watched them with an amused smile as the rest of the Avengers looked in on him from a two way mirror. He was strapped into the chair that Bruce, Jane, Erik, and the rest of the SI R&D department had retrofitted to scan Tony’s brain better than any standard MRI. It also came with the added benefit of keeping Morbius locked up and secure.

“What’s it look like in there?” Steve asked.

Clint shivered, “I’m not so sure you should ask that, Steve. I mean, come on. This is _Stark’s_ brain we’re talking about, here. I’ll bet you there’re crazier things in there than just a megalomaniacal whack job bent on taking over the world for its own good.”

Thor frowned, “To peer into another’s mind is a grievous breach of honor.”

Natasha looked unperturbed, “I don’t think we’re left with much of a choice, if we want to get Tony back. We need to know what we’re looking for.”

Sam looked uncomfortable as well, but said nothing.

Bucky just stared blankly at the chair.

“I’m…this doesn’t make any _sense_ ,” Jane muttered.

“Are we sure the machine was calibrated correctly?” Erik said as he looked over a bunch of data that Steve couldn’t mike hide or hair of.

Bruce nodded solemnly, “Everything’s in the green.”

Steve frowned, “Is something the matter?”

The three scientists at one another before turning to Steve, “Well, we have good news and we have bad news, which do you want first?” Bruce asked.

“Bad news.” Steve said.

“There’s…something else in there, besides Morbius.” Jane said slowly.

The rest of the Avengers turned to look at her in shock.

“What does that mean?” Sam asked, his brow scrunching up. Steve supposed that this was hard for him, as a counselor. Tony’s affliction was a mix of psychology and something darker, and it must have struck something in Sam to not be able to do anything to help Tony.

The scientists exchanged looks again, “We’re not entirely sure. The stuff we’ve managed to get a look at don’t make any sense. There are equations and formulae and memories that can’t possibly be Tony’s.” Jane said, looking out at Morbius with something akin to fear.

Steve shook his head. He wasn’t sure he could handle loosing Tony to something else, “Can you tell what it wants? Is it going to try and take Tony over like Morbius?”

Erik shook his head, “This isn’t anything at all like Morbius. It’s energy similar is the same as the staff’s and is strikingly similar to the Tesseract, but it appears mostly benign, actually. But, that’s actually part of the good news.”

Steve blinked. He had almost forgotten there was good news, in the face of all that. “What’s the good news then?” Steve desperately needed to hear good news.

Bruce frowned a little, “Morbius is going to fade away on his own.”

“So there won’t be any need for the…chair?” Bucky’s voice was haunted.

Bruce shook his head, “It’s going to be a process of months, if not years, without the chair and the treatments. But we are confident we can use the chair, on a lower setting, to start dissolving Morbius’s control over Tony. We’ll be dismantling it once we’re certain Tony has recovered. We doubt that whatever else it is in there is going to mess with Tony in any way. Primarily, it looks as if it’s a mass of memories. Thoughts and experiences and the like. Right now, we’re speculating that it’s most likely residual information from the staff. Leftovers from whatever the staff encountered before it ended up with Loki, most likely. They’re gradually taking over, I guess, the parts of Tony’s brain that house Morbius.”

Thor grinned, “Then this is joyous news! Our friend will soon be among us again!”

Steve frowned, “Will there be any way to remove it?”

The three scientists exchanged look again before Jane sighed and answered, “Short of using the machine for its fully intended purpose and completely wiping the areas of Tony’s mind that are effected? No. And we’re not even sure if that process would degrade the new memories long term. It could just suppress them, like it did with Bucky.”

Bucky twitched when they mentioned the chair, but otherwise didn’t comment.

Natasha tapped her finger to her arm, “This doesn’t seem suspiciously convenient to anyone? An easy fix to the problem, with only a small hitch in the form of whatever else was hidden in that staff being downloaded into Tony’s brain?”

Steve turned to stare at Morbius, “Why don’t we go in and ask him?”

Steve stepped out of the observation room and put his shield down by the door. He didn’t want to bring it with him. Tony knew how to push his buttons, and Steve wouldn’t put it past Morbius to abuse that knowledge. Steve wanted to avoid letting his anger get the best of him.

Steve entered the room with the rest of the Avengers, all of whom were on alert and but similarly unarmed. They were relatively confident that not even Tony would be able to break out of the room, but it wouldn’t do to take unnecessary risks when they were so close to having Tony back with them.

“Hello, love,” Morbius said as Steve entered.

Steve’s eyes narrowed, “What are you playing at here, Morbius?”

Morbius smiled all the wider, “The very same game I have always played at, love. The betterment of my fellow man through the acquisition and application of knowledge in the form of technology.”

Bruce frowned, “Is that what this is, then? Knowledge?” Bruce brought up a scan of Tony’s brain, showing Morbius the areas that were newly and increasingly active.

Morbius attempted to shrug, but sighed and aborted the movement when it proved to require a greater range of movement than the chair allowed, “In a sense. Have any of you ever wondered where the staff came from? How it was made when they had no access to the Tesseract in the first place?”

“Loki’s staff is similar in make and mind to the Tesseract, of that there is no doubt,” Thor rumbled.

Morbius shook his head, “You misunderstand me, the Tesseract and the staff are, indeed, kindred spirits, of a sort. And both are linked to one another. But how did this come to be when the one who made the staff, the one who sought the Tesseract, had no access to it in the first place? Why would he have gone to such lengths to obtain it if he could so easily recreate it, hm?”

Clint frowned, “So you’re saying that the blue cube isn’t the one that mind controlled me? Or you?”

Morbius smiled brilliantly, “Correct. The Staff and the Cube are separate. Similar in composition, of course, but entirely different.”

Jane tapped her finger to her chin, “Then how do you explain the similar gamma emissions?”

“A stop sign and a rose both reflect red light, darling. That does not mean one is exactly the same as the other, true? And, besides, the staff, too, was a thing of immense energy. Where do you think that energy went when we blew the staff to lovely little fragments?” Morbius seemed to be delighting in the confusion, looking over the Avengers as they puzzled everything out.

Erik frowned, “That makes no sense. You can’t convert energy directly into knowledge or vice versa.”

Morbius nodded in agreement, “Not by the laws of this universe, no.”

Thor stood straighter, looking Morbius in the eye, “But the Tesseract is an Infinity Stone. A thing as old as the universe itself.”

“Ah, but the staff was different, as we have already established. It is not the Tesseract, it still, though, obeyed a certain set of laws that does not always fit with a lovely Newtonian, or even Quantum, understanding of physics,” Morbius’s face was relaxed. Happy, even.

A terrible notion was forming in Steve’s head, “What was Phoenix for? What was chasing you around the world for? What does the staff and the Tesseract have to do with any of this?”

Morbius sniffed, “Phoenix was a distraction, of course. True, it was something that would have made the world more efficient. Something that would have made the world better. Something he would not have done on his own. All true. But it was meant to ensure no one would interfere with the gift the staff gave to us in its dying moments.”

Natasha stiffened, “And what gift is that?”

Morbius looked like a boy, wide eyed with wonder and hope and joy, “Oh, it’s amazing. All the knowledge you could possibly want at your fingertips. It’s something harrowing, to be sure, and not all of it clean and easy, but I’ll be able to do so much with it all.”

Steve frowned, “You’ll be gone, Morbius.”

Morbius shrugged, “Yes and no. I am me, after all. I always have been, and always will be, a part of him. That whisper to go after what he wants. The urge to go forth and do what he wants. To take. To live. To be happy.”

Steve’s frown devolved into a glare, “Fancy words for not having a conscience.”

Morbius rolled his eyes, “All too true from your perspective, I suppose. Still, several of the world’s most oppressive regimes have been thwarted. The people of the world are gaining new awareness as to what is possible. The world understands the power that lays at its fingertips in the form of knowledge, if only they will reach out and grasp it. And I get what I want. All in all, I would say that’s a win.”

“I don’t think all the people you killed will see it the same way.” Steve hissed.

Morbius shrugged, “The numbers don’t lie, Steve. The world will be better for my actions. I have managed to ensure I have what I want, even if Tony, perhaps, won’t thank me for it. I am more than content to fade away, now that everything is in order.”

Steve’s fists clenched.

Morbius smiled again, “I win.”

* * *

 

The Avengers cleared out of the room quickly, as no one willing to talk with Morbius further after that. He could see it in the faces of Natasha, Clint, Bucky, and even Bruce, though, that Morbius scared them. Not because of what he was capable of, but what he represented. Morbius was the darkest parts of Tony’s personality run amok for the sake of greed and personal gain. Each of them had faced their demons, and doubtless, the darker parts of their own souls were one of them. Steve thought it was a part of everyone’s soul. It was where his jealousy came from, doubtlessly. It was where those first unkind thoughts of Tony had come from. And all people had it, it was just that some people hid it better than others.

It didn’t take much longer for Bruce, Jane, and Erik to finish tweaking the machine in order to start the process of slowly degrading Morbius so that Tony could come back to them. Bruce made sure to sedate Tony before the procedure, but Bucky still had to leave the room when Tony jolted in the seat as arks of electricity ran from the machine to Tony’s mind.

The entire process took several treatments spaced out over the course of days, but, eventually, Bruce and the others gave the all clear. They moved Tony to a bed in the SI medical ward once Bruce, Jane, and Erik reported that Morbius was gone from Tony’s mind, though it looked like the knowledge that had come from the staff stayed strong. None of them truly understood what had happened to Tony, underneath Morbius’s influence, or what would happen when he woke up, but Bruce and the rest were all sure that he would.

Steve wondered at it. Tony had always been a past master of misdirection. Even Natasha had admitted to being played by him, when she had done his initial assessment for the Avengers initiative. He was more than happy to show people what they wanted to see, give them what they needed, while hiding whatever it was that he wanted or was doing behind closed doors.

As Steve sat by Tony’s bedside for almost a week, he prayed that the man he loved wouldn’t try to use that same skill to push them all away. He knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the minute Tony woke up, he would blame himself. Bruce had told them it was very likely that Tony would either begin to recall or have fully recalled his actions as Morbius upon waking.

So, Steve expected Tony to run, even as he hoped Tony would do the exact opposite. He expected Tony to hate and fight and do his level best to push every single one of them away in guilt and self-loathing and out of the misguided belief that it would be better for them all if he wasn’t there.

Steve, and the rest of the Avengers, had other ideas.

It took a full seven days after the raid before Tony woke up. Steve had spent most of his days next to Tony, determined to be there when Tony woke up. He wasn’t going to let Tony run from him, and when Tony woke up and his eyes locked on Steve, and Steve saw the pain and the hurt and the grief and the guilt all clawing at the man he loved, Steve did the only thing that came to mind.

He kissed Tony.

“Wha– why– I don’t–” Tony stuttered, still coming back to the land of the living.

“I love you, Tony.” Steve said as he clutched Tony’s hand in his.

Tony stared at Steve unblinkingly, “How can you say that? After all of this? After everything? How can you say that?”

Tony’s voice was so hopeless and so lost that something broke a little in Steve’s heart. “Because, Tony,” Steve whispered, “you’re only human. You were in a bad place, and someone used you to do bad things, but none of that was you.”

“It was, though,” Tony whispered. “I wanted all of that. I remember. I remember wanting to know things that were just at the edge of my mind. I remember knowing that you and the rest would find out. I remember knowing you would stop me and not wanting to let that happen.” Tony shook his head, “How can I be a good person when I started an international terrorist organization to make sure I got to fill my fucking curiosity?” Tony didn’t scream because he couldn’t, but his voice was hoarse with a whirlwind of emotion.

“Because you regret it, Tony,” Steve said softly, planting another kiss on Tony’s lips. “And you can’t regret unless you mean it. It was something that was done to you, just like when Loki used the staff on Clint. None of that changes the way I feel about you, the way any of us feel about you. We know it wasn’t something you wanted to do, Tony, and that you wouldn’t have done, if you had had a choice.”

Tony just shut his eyes, “You’re not going to give this up, are you?”

“Never.”

Tony grasped Steve’s hand back, “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to…” Tony swallowed, “to forget. But I have to put that right.”

Steve nodded, smiling, “And we’ll be with you every step of the way.”

Tony grabbed on to Steve, “What did I ever do to deserve you?”

Steve crawled into the bed next to Tony, “Probably just about as much as I did to deserve you.”

“Oh god, my eyes! Not again!” Clint shouted as he and the rest of the Avengers started piling into the room. Clint walked forward with his hands covering his eyes, but he was definitely smiling, as were the rest of the team as they came in.

“Ugh. Isn’t there some sort of rule about all of you being in here at once?” Tony bemoaned.

“Well, yes, but we all wanted to check up on you before you spiraled into your pit of self-loathing and despair.” Bruce’s words were wry, but his mouth broke out into a smile as he watched Tony.

Tony blinked at the Avengers, “I’m not sure if I like the fact or hate the fact you all know me so well.”

“You love it, don’t lie,” Bucky said as he fell onto the couch, beaming a wide smile.

“It is good to see you well, Friend Anthony. How fares your health? The good Doctor and my fair Jane were unsure as to if the lingering presence in your mind might cause you pain.” Thor’s voice was uncharacteristically soft as he came to stand next to Steve. Natasha just moved wordlessly to the other side of the bed and gave Tony a soft smile.

Tony shrugged, “It’s…weird, I guess. And going to take a while to sort out. It’s kind of like remembering a dream.”

“Feel up to watching a movie?” Sam asked, plopping down on the couch next to Bucky.

Tony sighed, “Well, since it doesn’t look like I’m going to be getting rid of you losers, I don’t see why not. What’s the movie?”

“Forbidden Planet,” Bruce said at once.

Tony just sighed, “Fine. Why not. Bring on the evil classic that my alter ego used on a crazy and convoluted world domination slash knowledge hoarding binge. Whatever.”

The room laughed, but Sam moved towards the DVD player that sat below the television.

As the movie started up, Tony pulled Steve onto the bed, whispering quietly into his ear, “I love you.”

Steve smiled and let himself relax with Tony, enjoying the feeling of family and belonging and love. Steve leaned against the back of the bed as Tony leaned against him in turn, watching a movie about a lost team, a lost man, and a robot who did his best for both.

 

**Author's Note:**

> It is explained in the fic that Tony is, when he is actually Tony, under a weird form of mind control that essentially equates to selectively lowered inhibitions throughout the majority, if not entirety, of the story. The inhibitions that were targeted in particular are desire and violent tendencies. I tagged for somewhat dubious consent because Tony would have eventually gotten together with Steve, and he does love Steve, those parts are all true, it just happened faster because of what was done to him.


End file.
